The incumbent YB Khurania is set to retire on August 16. Odisha is without a new director general of police (DGP) even four months after the state government initiated the selection process which is currently entangled in procedural deadlocks, integrity concerns, last-minute promotions and judicial scrutiny.
The central development
The guidelines require the state to choose its police chief from among the three senior-most officers empanelled by the UPSC, based on length of service, service record and relevant experience. An officer must also have at least six months of residual service. The examination was cancelled following allegations of a question-paper leak and the CBI subsequently investigated the matter. The state government can select one of the shortlisted officers as Odisha’s next police chief.
A home department official aware of the development said Nath faced adverse feedback from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) over a sub-inspector recruitment examination controversy when he was the chairman of the Odisha Police Recruitment Board. The officials said that the UPSC is expected to consider the state government’s revised list on Thursday.
People Involved
In May, the state government added eight more ADG-ranked officers’ names. The government withdrew its original proposal from the UPSC after it raised questions about including ADGP-rank officers in the panel. Under the UPSC guidelines, officers below the DG rank can be considered only when there are not enough eligible DG-rank officers. A public interest litigation filed in the Supreme Court argued that promoting ADGPs and seeking their inclusion could undermine the requirement that the UPSC consider the senior-most eligible officers already in the zone of consideration.
In April this year, the state government submitted a panel of three DGP-ranked officers to the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC): Dr Sudhanshu Sarangi (1990 batch), Susanta Kumar Nath (1993 batch) and RP Koche(1993 batch). The UPSC’s empanelment committee was expected to shortlist three officers, from whom the state government will choose the next DGP under guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court in its 2006 Prakash Singh judgment.
