Senior Coast Guard officer alleges caste prejudice, files formal complaint

In a rare occurrence, a senior armed forces officer has filed a complaint against superiors alleging caste prejudice that was intended to prevent his career progression.

The Deputy Inspector General of the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) has, in a formal complaint to the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, sought an impartial investigation into his case and disciplinary action against those found guilty.

There are no caste-based reservations in the armed forces, but they do come under the purview of the constitutional body tasked with safeguarding the interests of the Scheduled Caste communities. The Commission and ICG did not respond to a questionnaire sent by ET.


The officer has alleged that his gradings were misrepresented, denying him timely promotion and resulting in a downgrade of seniority.

Currently posted in Lakshadweep, the officer has asked for restoration of seniority and disciplinary action against officers who he alleges were involved in altering the merit list and tampering annual confidential reports.

"My relative merit was lowered by tampering gradings in the confidential records. I strongly believe that my merit was lowered by the coast guard senior officers with a mala fide intention to prevent my career progression as I belong to the Scheduled Caste community," the officer has written.

The officer said he had initially filed a complaint with the Coast Guard headquarters but his grievances were not properly addressed. An attempt was also made to hush up the issue by granting him a promotion later. This, he said, affected his seniority and caused a loss of 'rightfully earned honour'.

"Necessary disciplinary/administrative action may be considered against the officers who were involved in the illegal altering of Order of Merit 2019 and tampering of (the) confidential report of mine," the officer said in his complaint.

The officer's case is that he had initially been placed within the top eight positions on the merit list during a regular promotion board in 2019 but that this list was later altered by the top Coast Guard leadership.

After he lodged a complaint, he said the coast guard conducted another promotion board in January 2020 and elevated him to the rank of a DIG. This, he said, was done to hush up the matter, but left him ranked lower on the seniority list with other colleagues.

The officer has named the top Coast Guard leadership in his official complaint and has asked for necessary measures to be put in place to prevent any such fixing of records that can impact promotions.