New Delhi: The Supreme Court Thursday asked the Odisha government if it has put Sushant Kumar Nath, a senior IPS officer, whose name was excluded from a list of officers being considered for the DGP’s post, in the category of accused after the CBI stated that he might need to be questioned in a recruitment exam scam case. The Odisha government had forwarded a panel of 11 senior IPS officers to the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) in May to choose a successor to the outgoing DGP.
However, the Odisha government withdrew Nath’s name from the panel after the CBI stated he might need to be questioned in the recruitment exam scam case. According to procedure, states should propose DGP rank officers meeting seniority and eligibility norms, with at least six months of service left before retirement from the date of vacancy. A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the state government, if the state was putting Nath in the category of accused by withholding his certificate. “Withholding integrity certificate is going too far.
Are you putting him in the category of accused? If it is said that merely because there is such a case pending, the integrity certificate can be withheld, we would be led to draw an inference that puts the cart before the horse,” Justice Bagchi remarked orally. The top court was hearing a PIL alleging that the Odisha government was trying to include a junior officer in the list of probable candidates for DGP, in a breach of the apex court’s directions in the 2006 Prakash Singh case.
At the outset, Mehta submitted that the state government started the process for DGP recruitment six months before the earlier DGP was to retire as per Prakash Singh guidelines. He said that the CBI informed the state government that Nath was the chairman of the Odisha Police Recruitment Board, which was conducting the examination for recruitment of Sub-Inspectors of Police. “The CBI said the entire examination process was under investigation, including the role of the examination-conducting agencies, the Odisha Police Recruitment Board and others.
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