In short. This page is for central government employees serving on deputation who have been told to return to their parent department before the tenure ended, or whose request to be absorbed in the borrowing organisation was turned down. A deputationist has no right to stay or to be absorbed, but the decision must follow the DoPT terms, including advance notice of premature reversion, and must not be a hidden punishment or an arbitrary choice. Act within days of a repatriation order: once you are relieved, a stay is harder to get. Start by collecting the deputation offer, tenure orders and the repatriation order.
Is this your situation?
- You have been ordered back to your parent department in the middle of your deputation tenure.
- The repatriation order came with no notice, or with a few days' notice instead of three months.
- The order followed a complaint, an inquiry or a dispute with a senior officer, though no charge was ever framed.
- Colleagues who came on deputation with you were extended or absorbed, and you were not.
- The borrowing organisation recommended your absorption, but your parent department refused its consent.
- You were absorbed, but your seniority in the new cadre has been counted only from the date of absorption.
Where you stand, in two sentences
A deputationist holds the deputation post at the pleasure of the borrowing department and keeps a lien on his post in the parent department, so he can be sent back and has no enforceable right to be absorbed. The Supreme Court has said this many times, including in Kunal Nanda v. Union of India (2000).
What the courts have not said is that anything goes. Premature repatriation must follow the DoPT terms on which you were taken, including the notice period. It cannot be used to punish you for alleged misconduct without the safeguards of the disciplinary rules. It cannot pick you out on grounds that are irrational or discriminatory. And where the recruitment rules provide for absorption and the department has a policy for it, your case must be considered by the same yardstick as others. Most successful challenges sit in one of these four gaps.
If none of them fits your facts, a repatriation that feels unfair is probably lawful, and the time is better spent on the parent department side: your seniority, your proforma promotion and your next posting.
First, which kind of arrangement are you on?
People use 'deputation' loosely, and the label matters. Ordinary deputation under the recruitment rules of a central post is governed by DoPT's consolidated OM of 17 June 2010 on terms and conditions of deputation. Deputation to a body that is not a government department, such as an autonomous society, a statutory authority or a PSU, is technically foreign service under FR 110 onwards, and FR 110 itself says no government servant can be transferred to foreign service against his will.
Some recruitment rules say 'deputation (including short-term contract)', which lets the borrowing department take people from outside government too. Others provide for 'deputation/absorption', which is where most absorption disputes come from. All India Service officers, officers under the Central Staffing Scheme, personal staff of ministers and deputation abroad are outside the 2010 memorandum and have their own rules.
Check your offer of appointment on deputation and the recruitment rules of the post you hold. If the RR does not mention absorption at all, the borrowing department cannot absorb you unless the rules are amended, however much it wants to.
The DoPT terms that decide most cases
Tenure: OM of 17 June 2010, para 8, and OM of 17 February 2016
The tenure is what the recruitment rules prescribe, often three years. The borrowing department may extend it, but the 2010 OM capped deputation at five years at a stretch. The 2016 OM allows extension up to seven years where it is absolutely necessary in public interest, with the approval of the minister of the borrowing ministry, the officer's willingness, vigilance clearance and the lending department's no objection. Beyond seven years, only if the RR itself provides for it.
Premature reversion: para 9 of the 2010 OM
Ordinarily a deputationist's services are returned at the end of the tenure. Where premature reversion becomes necessary, the 2010 OM says it may be done after giving advance notice of at least three months to the lending department and the employee. The Delhi High Court in Madan Lal Saini v. Union of India (2022) directed that this notice be given before repatriation and let the petitioners continue until then.
Cooling-off: para 8.4 of the 2010 OM
After a deputation ends, there is a cooling-off period before another deputation. Relaxation is rare and needs prior DoPT reference. This is often why an officer sent back early cannot simply apply for the next deputation vacancy.
Deputation allowance
Under the 7th Pay Commission orders, deputation (duty) allowance is 5 per cent of basic pay (capped at Rs 4,500 a month) within the same station and 10 per cent (capped at Rs 9,000) for a different station, if you have not opted for the pay of the deputation post. Check the current DoPT order before relying on these figures, and note that extensions beyond five years have carried conditions on the allowance.
Seniority on absorption: DoPT OM of 29 May 1986
An absorbed officer's seniority generally runs from the date of absorption. Where he already held the same or an equivalent grade on a regular basis in his parent department, the later of the date of his appointment on deputation and the date of his regular appointment in that grade is used instead. Check the OM and any later clarification applicable to your cadre.
Grounds on which a premature repatriation can be challenged
- No advance notice. If the borrowing department did not give the three months' notice the 2010 OM speaks of, and there was no real emergency, this is the simplest point. It may only delay repatriation, but delay can matter for children's schooling, a pending DPC or an absorption decision.
- Punishment in disguise. If the order is founded on alleged misconduct, such as a complaint about your conduct or a finding in a preliminary inquiry you were never shown, it may be stigmatic. Courts look behind a neutral one-line order to the file. Mere dissatisfaction with work, without stigma, is usually treated as a valid motive.
- Arbitrary selection. Where several deputationists came together and the department sends back one without any stated reason, while retaining or extending others with the same tenure, the choice must be explained.
- Wrong authority. The order must come from the authority competent to end the deputation, often the same level that appointed you. A section head's letter relieving you is not enough.
- Malice or a personal dispute. Hard to prove and rarely the only ground. It needs specific facts and, ideally, the officer named as a party.
- Contrary to an assurance in writing. An offer letter that fixed a tenure does not bind the department absolutely, but a written assurance tied to a specific project or term can support the argument that the decision was unreasonable.
A made-up example: sent back after a quarrel over a file
Here's a made-up example. Pradeep, an Assistant Section Officer in a central ministry, goes on deputation as Assistant to a central investigating agency in Delhi for three years from April 2025. In June 2026, after he refuses to put up a note in a form his Deputy Superintendent wants, a fact-finding report records that he is 'non-cooperative and not trustworthy'. Two weeks later a single-line order repatriates him 'in the exigencies of service', with immediate effect.
Pradeep asks under RTI for the file leading to the order and receives part of it, showing the fact-finding report as the basis. He represents to the head of the agency within a week, pointing to para 9 of the 2010 OM and to the stigma in the report, and asks that he not be relieved meanwhile. When he is relieved anyway, he files an OA at the Principal Bench.
On such facts the tribunal could find the repatriation founded on misconduct without any inquiry, and set it aside, or at least require three months' notice. It might also leave the department free to repatriate him again on proper terms. Pradeep should understand that the most likely gain is cleaning the record, not a guaranteed full tenure.
Absorption: what you can and cannot insist on
Absorption needs several things to line up: the recruitment rules of the borrowing post must provide for it; there must be a regular vacancy in that method of recruitment; the borrowing department must want you and assess you as suitable; you must agree; and the lending department must release you. The Supreme Court in Kunal Nanda held that a deputationist cannot claim absorption as of right, even after long service on deputation.
Where challenges succeed is in the process. If the borrowing department has a written absorption policy and absorbed others with similar or weaker records in the same round, a refusal that ignores you can be questioned. If the lending department withholds its no-objection certificate without any reason connected to its needs, the tribunal may ask it to reconsider. If the refusal rests on a vigilance matter that has since closed, ask for a fresh decision; our page on vigilance status not clear explains how that status works.
Before you push for absorption, do the arithmetic. Absorption cuts your link to the parent cadre for good. Your seniority will be governed by the 1986 rules mentioned above and your promotions by the borrowing cadre's rules, which may be slower. Several officers have fought for absorption and then fought again over seniority in the new cadre. Read objecting to a seniority list before signing.
Your parent cadre while you are away
While you are on deputation, you keep your lien and your place in the parent cadre. If your junior is promoted in the parent department while you are away, you may be entitled to proforma promotion under the next below rule, so that your pay and seniority are protected. This is often overlooked, and an officer returns to find he has fallen behind.
If the parent department offers you a regular promotion during deputation, you face a choice. You may have to return to take it, or decline it to finish the deputation, and declining can lead to debarment from promotion for a period under DoPT instructions. See declining a promotion and the debarment period. Make the choice in writing, after checking whether the borrowing department will let you complete the tenure in the higher grade.
When you return, you are entitled to be posted against a post in your grade. An order sending you back with no posting for months, or keeping you 'awaiting posting', can itself be challenged if it drags on. If your APARs written in the borrowing department were not placed before the parent DPC, ask for a review; our page on being left out by the DPC deals with that.
What to do in the first two weeks after a repatriation order
Read the order and note the dates
Is it 'with immediate effect', or with a relieving date? Who signed it? Does it give any reason? Note when you received it, because the tribunal will ask whether you came quickly.
Ask for the reason and the file
Write to the borrowing department asking for the reasons and the record of the decision. File an RTI application at the same time. Even a partly redacted file often shows whether a complaint lay behind the order.
Represent at once, asking not to be relieved
Address the head of the borrowing organisation through proper channel, citing para 9 of the 2010 OM and the facts. Ask that you be continued until the representation is decided. Keep it to two pages.
Inform your parent department
Write to your cadre controlling authority with a copy of the order and your representation. If you return, you need a posting order; if you stay, the parent department should not treat you as overstaying.
Consider an OA with interim relief
If the order is clearly against the notice rule or carries stigma, an OA with a prayer for interim protection should be filed before you are relieved, or within days of it. See getting interim relief under Section 24.
Obey any relieving order unless stayed
Do not refuse to hand over charge. If you are relieved, report to the parent department and continue the challenge from there. Defiance turns a strong case into a disciplinary one.
Advocate B.K. Singh's advice to deputationists is usually to put the request for the file in writing the same day. Within a month, files have a way of being 'consolidated', and the note that drove the decision becomes harder to find.
Documents to keep together
Your deputation
- Advertisement or circular inviting applications for the deputation post
- Offer of appointment on deputation and your acceptance
- Order fixing the tenure and any extension orders
- Your relieving order from the parent department
- Pay option and deputation allowance orders
The repatriation or refusal
- The repatriation order and the covering letter
- Any show cause notice, complaint or fact-finding report
- RTI request and reply, with file notings received
- Your representation and proof of delivery
- Orders retaining, extending or absorbing others in the same batch
For absorption cases
- Recruitment Rules of the post, showing the absorption method
- Absorption policy or circular of the borrowing department
- Your option or consent for absorption
- Lending department's NOC or refusal letter
- APARs and vigilance clearance for the deputation period
Money and practical questions on the way back
Repatriation raises small money questions that become big ones if ignored. Your joining time and transfer travelling allowance for the return journey are ordinarily borne by the borrowing organisation under the 2010 terms, so submit the claim there before your last day if you can. Deputation allowance stops from the date you are relieved. If you had opted for the pay scale of the deputation post rather than your own pay plus allowance, your pay reverts to the parent grade, and any increments earned meanwhile should be reflected through the next below rule or the normal increment dates.
Leave is another trap. Leave earned during deputation is carried back to your parent department's leave account, but borrowing organisations outside government sometimes keep their own records. Ask for a leave account certificate before you leave, and check it against your service book. The same goes for GPF or NPS contributions recovered during deputation: confirm that every month's deduction reached the right account. Our guide to service book mistakes in joining and leave entries explains why a missing entry matters at retirement more than at any other time.
If the order arrives in the middle of a school year, ask in writing for the relieving date to be fixed at the end of the academic session. Departments often agree to a request of this kind even when they refuse to withdraw the order, and it costs nothing to ask. Put the request separately from any challenge to the order itself, so that agreeing to it does not look like an admission on either side.
Finally, report to the parent department on time even if your representation is pending. A gap between relieving and joining, without sanctioned joining time or leave, can be treated as unauthorised absence and becomes a separate problem.
Where the case is filed
If you are a central government employee and either the lending or the borrowing department is a central ministry, department or a body notified under Section 14(2) of the Administrative Tribunals Act, a repatriation or absorption dispute is a service matter for the Central Administrative Tribunal. The OA is filed at the bench for the place where you are posted or where the order was made. An officer on deputation at a regional office of an agency in Bhopal who is repatriated by its Delhi headquarters may file either at the Jabalpur Bench, which covers Madhya Pradesh, or at the Principal Bench, depending on where the cause of action arose.
If the borrowing organisation is a PSU, a statutory body or a society not notified under Section 14(2), its decision may have to be challenged in the High Court, because CAT has no jurisdiction over that body. Our guide on checking a body's Section 14(2) notification explains how to find out. Deputation to a state government raises similar questions: the state's order may go to the State Administrative Tribunal or the High Court. Deputationists in a CAPF, even if from a civil department, may face the same issue; see CAPF, PSU and bank staff before the High Court.
Limitation is one year under Section 21, but in deputation cases that year is mostly irrelevant. The useful window is the few weeks before the relieving date. After that, the tribunal can still set aside a stigmatic order and correct your record, but it rarely sends you back to the borrowing post once someone else holds it.
Typical timeline and costs
| Step | How long it usually takes | Money involved |
|---|---|---|
| Request for reasons and RTI | RTI reply within 30 days; reasons letter may not be answered at all | Rs 10 RTI fee |
| Representation to the borrowing department | Days if urgent; otherwise up to six months under Section 20 | None beyond postage |
| Urgent OA with interim prayer | Can be drafted in a few days and mentioned for early listing | A small fixed CAT fee (Rs 50 under Rule 7 of the CAT (Procedure) Rules; confirm the current amount and mode at the registry) |
| Pleadings after notice | Replies often take two to four months; some departments seek more time | Professional fees stage by stage, agreed in writing at the first meeting |
| Final hearing | Six months to over a year; earlier if interim relief is in force and the department wants it vacated | No additional tribunal fee as a rule |
| Absorption reconsideration after an order | Usually the period fixed by the tribunal, often two to three months | Nil unless compliance has to be pursued |
A made-up example: absorption blocked by the parent department
Here's a made-up example. Kavita, a Senior Accountant in the Indian Audit and Accounts Department at Hyderabad, has spent four years on deputation as Accounts Officer with a central research institute notified under Section 14(2). The institute's recruitment rules provide for absorption, and its board recommends her along with two others. The other two belong to departments that issue NOCs. Her parent office refuses, citing a shortage of staff.
A staff shortage is a real reason, and the tribunal will be slow to override it. Kavita's stronger argument would be if her office had released others of the same cadre for absorption elsewhere in the same year, which would make the refusal look selective. With RTI she finds it had released two. She represents to the Accountant General, then files an OA at the Hyderabad Bench, asking only that the refusal be reconsidered on a consistent basis. That modest prayer is more likely to succeed than a demand for absorption itself.
Common mistakes deputationists make
- Assuming the tenure in the offer letter is a contract. It is a term, not a guarantee. Build your plans around the notice rule, not the full period.
- Not watching the parent cadre. Promotions, MACP and seniority lists in your parent department continue while you are away, and objections have time limits.
- Arguing malice without proof. An allegation against a named officer without documents usually hurts more than it helps.
- Refusing to hand over charge. Even a bad order must be obeyed unless stayed.
- Seeking absorption without checking the RR. If the rules do not provide for absorption, no amount of recommendation will make it lawful.
- Overstaying after tenure. Continuing in the borrowing post after the tenure ends without an extension order can create pay and leave complications that take years to settle.
Group A officers, scientists and defence civilians
Group A officers on deputation to posts at Director level and above, or to bodies like regulators, sometimes have Appointments Committee of the Cabinet approval in the chain. Premature repatriation of such officers usually needs the same level of approval, and a repatriation without it can be questioned on competence alone. Scientists from DRDO, CSIR or ISRO moving to other scientific bodies often go under special rules of their own organisation; check whether the 2010 OM applies at all before quoting it.
Defence civilians on deputation to the Border Roads Organisation or other organisations under the Ministry of Defence remain under CAT for service disputes, but the deputation terms may be set by the ministry's own orders. Railway employees going to other ministries are covered by the 2010 OM for the borrowing side and by railway rules for lien and proforma promotion on return. Our guide on reading a DoPT office memorandum helps in working out which paragraph governs your case.
How we can help
In deputation cases the first decision is often whether to fight at all. Some repatriations, though abrupt, are lawful, and the energy is better spent on proforma promotion and a decent posting in the parent department. Others carry a stigma that will follow you into every DPC, and those are worth challenging even if you do not want to go back to the borrowing post. Advocate B.K. Singh looks at the order, the file you can obtain and the timing before suggesting either course.
Fees are discussed at the first meeting and set out in writing for each stage. Where the bench is outside Delhi, we work with associate counsel there.
If you have been sent back early or refused absorption, contact Advocate B.K. Singh for advice on your papers or for updates on the deputation rules.
Frequently asked questions
Can my borrowing department send me back before my deputation tenure ends?
Yes, a deputationist has no right to complete the full tenure. But the DoPT terms of 2010 call for advance notice of at least three months to you and your parent department. A repatriation that is really a punishment for alleged misconduct needs the safeguards of the disciplinary rules.
Is a repatriation order without three months' notice illegal?
It is open to challenge, and courts have directed departments to give the notice before repatriating. The usual result is that you continue until the notice period ends, not that you get the full tenure. Move quickly, before you are relieved.
I have been on deputation for six years. Do I have a right to absorption?
No. The Supreme Court has held that long deputation does not create a right to absorption. You can insist only that your case be considered fairly under the recruitment rules and any absorption policy, on the same basis as others.
What happens to my seniority if I get absorbed?
Generally it counts from the date of absorption. If you already held the same or an equivalent grade regularly in your parent department, the later of your regular appointment in that grade and your appointment on deputation may count. Check the 1986 DoPT OM and your cadre's rules.
Can I refuse to be sent on deputation to an autonomous body?
Deputation to a body outside government is foreign service, and FR 110 says no government servant may be transferred to foreign service against his will. Deputation within government is different and depends on the rules of your post.
My junior was promoted in my parent department while I was on deputation. What can I do?
Ask for proforma promotion under the next below rule, which protects your pay and seniority while you are away. Make the claim in writing with the junior's promotion order. If refused, it can be taken to CAT.
Can I go back to the same deputation post after winning in CAT?
Sometimes, if the post is still open or the tribunal orders it. Often the post has been filled and the tribunal limits relief to setting aside a stigmatic order or awarding the notice period. Ask early for interim protection if continuing matters to you.
Which forum hears a dispute with a PSU where I was on deputation?
If the PSU is not notified under Section 14(2), its decisions usually go to the High Court. Your parent department's decisions about your lien or posting still go to CAT. Sometimes the two have to be pursued separately.