Supreme Court Faces Challenge Over Odisha's DGP Selection Process
Legal Challenge to DGP Appointment in Odisha
Bhubaneswar: A public interest litigation (PIL) was submitted to the Supreme Court on Tuesday, contesting the method used to appoint the new Director General of Police (DGP) in Odisha. This comes after the state government promoted 1994-batch IPS officers Sanjeeb Panda and Yashwant Kumar Jethwa from Additional Director General (ADG) to DGP on Monday.
Senior advocate P. Chidambaram represented the petitioner, Jayanta Das from Baleshwar district, in the Supreme Court. The case was heard by a three-judge bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant. Chidambaram informed the court that the Odisha government had previously submitted a list of 11 IPS officers to the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) for the DGP selection process.
According to Chidambaram, the UPSC was supposed to shortlist three candidates from this list after discussions with officials from both the state and Union governments on August 7. However, the state government later withdrew this list, which the UPSC allowed. The Odisha government is now preparing to submit a new list to the UPSC.
The petitioner argued that this action violates the Supreme Court's directives established in the Prakash Singh case, which stipulates that only IPS officers at Level 16 should be eligible for the DGP position. Chidambaram claimed that the Odisha government attempted to promote an ADGP-rank officer late Monday or early Tuesday and include this officer in the UPSC's list of eligible candidates.
He noted that the Odisha government had sent a list of IPS officers to the UPSC in April but later retracted it, subsequently submitting a new list with three DG-rank and eight ADG-rank officers. During the August 7 meeting, the UPSC instructed the state to provide only a list of DG-rank officers, according to the senior advocate. He emphasized the public interest aspect of the case, mentioning that no officer had filed a writ petition regarding this issue.
The CJI inquired if any government officer had approached the court about this situation. Chidambaram responded that officers of the appropriate rank were awaiting consideration for the DGP appointment. He also mentioned that the petitioner is the son of a former freedom fighter. The CJI remarked that the UPSC is capable of identifying qualified officers for the position.
"If an ineligible list is submitted, the UPSC will follow the Supreme Court's directives," Kant stated. Chidambaram argued that the Odisha government had promoted ADGP-rank officers to DGP and included their names in the new list, which he claimed violated the court's orders.
Chidambaram requested a hearing for Wednesday, and the CJI agreed. However, the list of cases scheduled for that day, released on the Supreme Court's website late Tuesday, did not include the DGP appointment case from Odisha.