Recently, the ACC, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved a landmark proposal of MHA which aimed at addressing the issues of discontent, disparity, and legal wrangling among senior IPS officers. According to the approved proposal, 11 senior-most IPS officers will be considered eligible and entitled for getting Apex Scale irrespective of the size and importance of CPMFs & Agency (Central Para-military Force) they may lead. There have been provisions and conventions for granting the Apex Scale to the chiefs of certain agencies like CBI & IB and giant CPMFs like CRPF & BSF etc. This meant that even if DGs of CRPF, BSF, CBI or IB were junior to their counterparts in the other CPMFs like NDRF, SSB, BPR&D etc, they would get Apex scale which created discontent among senior police officers. Few months back, one of the senior serving IPS officers and currently Director of SVP National Police Academy, Ms. Aruna M Bahuguna (IPS:1979:AP) moved to CAT. She had filed a case against this discrimination. She sought Apex Scale as she was among select senior-most serving IPS officers at the Centre, but still she got HAG plus scale. The CAT upheld her stand. Similarly, former IB officer R N Ravi (Rtd IPS:1976:KL) and O P S Mallick (Rtd IPS:1975:UP), former DG of Narcotics Control Bureau, had moved the CAT the very next day they retired. The CAT's decision went in their favour and they got Apex Scale retrospectively. Following the CAT judgments, Union Home Ministry moved the ACC to address this thorny and perennially controversial issue of discrimination and discontent. Following the ACC's latest decision on Apex scale to 11 senior-most IPS officers, RRs (recruitment rules) of CBI, IB, CRPF, SSB, NIA etc are being changed and realigned so that the decision may be implemented as soon as possible. Accordingly, CBI Director and IB Chief may not necessarily get Apex scale, while DG of a less important agency like NDRF, SSB may get Apex scale because the seniority of 11 would be the benchmark for Apex scale and not the size and importance of the agency. Earlier smart and well-connected IPS officers would get top posts of bigger/important CPMFs and Apex scale both. But now, well-connected ones may get bigger/important CPMFs/Agencies but may not get Apex scale necessarily. In other words, senior-most IPS officers (at centre) may not be able to grab important CPMFs but they will get Apex Scale for sure. This may well mark the end of a regime of discrimination and beginning of a new order.