AMIT KUMAR & ORS.versusUNION OF INDIA & ORS.

          [2026] 2 S.C.R. 402 : 2026 INSC 128

                    Amit Kumar & Ors.
                             v.
                   Union of India & Ors.
        (Interlocutory Application No. 25652 of 2026)
                               In
             (Criminal Appeal No. 1425 of 2025)
                       06 February 2026
       [J.B. Pardiwala and R. Mahadevan, JJ.]


                    Issue for Consideration
Interlocutory application was filed seeking direction as regards
the appointment of Dr. T.C.A. Anant, former Chief Statistician
of India, as Technical Consultant to the National Task Force for
comprehensive and scientific analysis of the survey data and;
direction to the Ministry of Education to extend all necessary
administrative support, infrastructure, data access, and to provide
appropriate remuneration/honorarium to Dr. Anant, as per prevalent
norms or as may be fixed by the Court.

                           Headnotes†
Interlocutory Application – Interlocutory application filed for
the appointment of Dr. T.C.A. Anant, former Chief Statistician
of India, as Technical Consultant to the National Task Force
for comprehensive and scientific analysis of the survey data
and; direction to the Ministry of Education, Union of India, to
extend all necessary administrative support, infrastructure,
data access, and to provide appropriate remuneration/
honorarium to Dr. Anant, as per prevalent norms or as may
be fixed by the Court:
Held: Dr. T.C.A. Anant, former Chief Statistician of India is
appointed as Technical Consultant to the National Task Force for
the purpose of comprehensive and scientific analysis of the survey
data – Ministry of Education, Union of India shall pass an order of
his appointment at the earliest – Ministry to extend all necessary
administrative support, more particularly the infrastructure & data
access and to provide appropriate remuneration/honorarium to
Dr. Anant in accordance with prevalent norms. [Para 3]
[2026] 2 S.C.R.                                                            403

               Amit Kumar & Ors. v. Union of India & Ors.


                             List of Keywords
     National Task Force; National Task Force to address the mental
     health concerns of students and prevent the commission of suicides
     in Higher Educational Institutions; Technical Consultant to the
     National Task Force; Comprehensive and scientific analysis of the
     survey data; Direction to the Ministry of Education, Union of India,
     Administrative support; Data access; Appropriate remuneration/
     honorarium.

                            Case Arising From
     CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Interlocutory Application
     No. 25652 of 2026 in Criminal Appeal No. 1425 of 2025
     From the Judgment and Order dated 30.01.2024 of the High Court
     of Delhi at New Delhi in WPCRL No. 2945 of 2023

                         Appearances for Parties
     Ms. Aparna Bhat Sr. Adv./Amicus Curiae.
     Advs. for the Appellant(s):
     Mehmood Pracha, R. H. A. Sikander, Jatin Bhatt, Sanawar, Kshitij
     Singh, Ms. Nujhat Naseem, Sikander Raza, Faisal Mohammad,
     Kumail Abbas, Mayank Sapra, Ms. Karishma Maria, Ms. Lalima Das.
     Advs. for the Respondent(s):
     K.M. Nataraj, Brijender Chahar, A.S.G.s., Lokesh Sinhal, Sr. A.A.G.,
     Shiv Mangal Sharma, Ms. Karishma Malani, Anil Shrivastav, Aman
     Panwar, A.A.G.s., Rudratiya Khare, D.A.G., Chitransh Sharma,
     Vatsal Joshi, Anuj Srinivas Udupa, Ms. Ruchi Kohli, Arvind Kumar
     Sharma, Ms. Mrinal Gopal Elker, Mukesh Kumar Maroria, Amit
     Sharma Ii, Mrs. Bani Dikshit, Varun Chugh, Gaurang Bhushan,
     Jagdish Chandra, Ms. Swati Ghildiyal, Ms. Neha Singh, Ms. K.
     Enatoli Sema, Amit Kumar Singh, Ms. Chubalemla Chang, Prang
     Newmai, Ms. Yanmi Phazang, Ms. Vidushi Bajpai, Samar Vijay
     Singh, Ms. Sabarni Som, Aman Dev Sharma, Nikunj Gupta, Sarthak
     Arya, Gaj Singh, Ms. Ishika Gupta, Vikramaditya Chauhan, Subrata
     Chakraborty, Sourabh Dahiya, Amith Krishnan H, Parmanand Gaur,
     Ms. Megha Gaur, Vibhav Mishra, Ms. Shalini Singh, Ms. Nidhi
     Jaswal, Gautam Singh, Parth Awasthi, Pashupathi Nath Razdan,
     Mahesh Agarwal, Rishi Agrawala, Ms. Madhavi Agarwal, Sanjeevi
     Seshadri, Akshay Agarwal, Manish Sharma, E. C. Agrawala, Akshay
404                                                            [2026] 2 S.C.R.

                           Supreme Court Reports


       Amritanshu, Nikunj Gupta, Ms. Ishika Gupta, Sarthak Srivastava,
       Mayur Goyal, Sarthak Arya, Ms. Seema Sindhu, Abhay Nair,
       Ms. Harsh Rekha, Ms. Disha Singh, Ms. Eliza Bar, Ms. Swati
       Ghildiyal, Ms. Neha Singh, Sanchit Garga, Abhinav Kumar, Manav
       Kaushik, Kunal Rana, Shashwat Jaiswal, Bhanu Pratap Singh,
       Ms. Diksha Arora, Kaushal Gautam, Ms. Snehpreet Kaur, Prashant
       Alai, Kunal Mimani, Shrirang B. Varma, Siddharth Dharmadhikari,
       Aaditya Aniruddha Pande, Avijit Mani Tripathi, Upendra Mishra,
       P.S. Negi, T.K. Nayak, Ms. Marbiang Khongwir, Nishe Rajen
       Shonker, Mrs. Anu K Joy, Santhosh K, Alim Anvar, Mrs. Devika
       A.l., Ms. Shashi Bala, Praveen Chaudhary, Sanpreet Singh Ajmani,
       Amit Kumar, Ms. Amitoz Kaur, Ms. Shivani Agrahari, Mohit Kumar
       Gupta, Ms. Misha Rohatgi, Nakul Mohta, Amulya Upadhyay, Ayush
       Kashyap, Sameer Abhyankar, Aryan Srivastava, Krishna Rastogi,
       Sudarshan Lamba, Abhijeet Pandove, Amit Sharma B, Gaurang
       Bhushan, Ms. Bani Dikshit, Jagdish Chandra, Karan Chahar,
       Rajbahadur Yadav, Aor, Pukhrambam Ramesh Kumar, Karun
       Sharma, Ms. Anupama Ngangom, Ms. Rajkumari Divyasana.

                  Judgment / Order of the Supreme Court

                                     Order

1.     Heard Ms. Aparna Bhat, the learned Amicus Curiae and Mr. K.M.
       Nataraj, the learned Additional Solicitor General for the Union of India.
2.     By this application the following has been prayed for:-
             “a) Direct the appointment of Dr. T.C.A. Anant, former
             Chief Statistician of India, as Technical Consultant to the
             National Task Force for comprehensive and scientific
             analysis of the survey data;
             b) Direct the Ministry of Education, Union of India, to
             extend all necessary administrative support, infrastructure,
             data access, and to provide appropriate remuneration /
             honorarium to Dr. Anant, as per prevalent norms or as
             may be fixed by this Hon’ble Court.”
3.     We direct that :-
       (i)   Dr. T.C.A. Anant, former Chief Statistician of India be appointed
             as Technical Consultant to the National Task Force for the
[2026] 2 S.C.R.                                                       405

                  Amit Kumar & Ors. v. Union of India & Ors.


             purpose of comprehensive and scientific analysis of the survey
             data.
     (ii)    The Ministry of Education, Union of India shall pass an order
             of appointment of Dr. T.C.A. Anant at the earliest.
     (iii) We also direct the Ministry of Education, Union of India to
           extend all necessary administrative support, more particularly
           the infrastructure & data access and to provide appropriate
           remuneration/honorarium to Dr. Anant in accordance with
           prevalent norms.
4.   With the aforesaid directions, this interlocutory application stands
     disposed of accordingly.

     Result of the case: Interlocutory application disposed of.




     †
         Headnotes prepared by: Divya Pandey