The Supreme Court has given Andhra Pradesh’s Forest Range Officers (FROs) long-awaited recognition by declaring their cadre part of the “State Forest Service,” a move that clears the path for promotions into the prestigious Indian Forest Service (IFoS).
A bench led by Justices Dipankar Datta and A.G. Masih dismantled the High Court’s earlier stance, siding instead with the Central Administrative Tribunal’s interpretation that FROs deserve eligibility. Since FROs are gazetted officers under the Andhra Pradesh Forest Service, the Court concluded that—once approved by the Centre—their service falls squarely within the definition of a State Forest Service.
The Union of India did not resist this view. With the Centre on board, the Court directed both State and Union authorities to consider Andhra’s FROs in every future round of IFoS recruitment.
In clear terms, the ruling stated that Class A officers of the Andhra Pradesh Forest Service, including categories 2 and 3, are members of the State Forest Service once substantively appointed. Consequently, they qualify for IFoS promotion under the recruitment rules.
Yet the win came with a twist: the very appellant who fought the case walked away without personal relief. The Court explained that granting him retrospective promotion was impossible—seven seniors stood ahead of him in the queue, and his claim came far too late. Though eligible since 2014, he waited until 2021 to make his case, and the Court cited long-standing precedent that stale claims cannot be revived to disrupt settled seniority.
As the judgment put it, the appellant succeeded in proving the legal principle but not in securing a promotion for himself.
The appeal was partly allowed—marking a symbolic victory for the wider cadre, even if the torchbearer himself remained empty-handed.
