New Delhi: The government of Odisha has already been sufficiently embarrassed during the hearing in the Supreme Court on the selection process for DGP in the state. Fresh materials have emerged to suggest that two IPS officers of the state, Sanjeeb Panda and RP Koche, whose names were recommended to UPSC for selection as DGP, were earlier interrogated by CBI in the Seashore Chit Fund Case (RC Case No. 49/S/2014-Kol), which is still under investigation.
However, the government knowingly asked specifically about the role of Susanta Kumar Nath, another contender in the DGP race, in the SI recruitment scam under investigation by CBI, suppressing the facts about the other two officers. In the Supreme Court hearing, the State Govt.has already been pulled up for seeking such a clarification against one specific officer from the CBI just on the eve of holding of the Em panelment Committee meeting dated August 7, 2026. Moreover, it has strongly come out during argument by the Counsel for Susanta Kumar Nath, the petitioner in the PIL, as well as the Amicus Curiae(friend to the court), that in reply to leading questions by the State Govt., the CBI replied that “he may be examined” in the case if required, only after examining the offi cials of M/s ITI Ltd., that too after permission u/s 17A is granted in favour of them, which is still pending. As such, this reply keeps it open-ended, which implies that Nath may or may not be examined and that, even if examined, it could be as a witness. The withdrawal of the Integrity Certificate in favour of Nath on the basis of the above reply by CBI just on the eve of the holding of the Em panelment Committee Meeting is nothing but a fraud – as stated by P. Chidambaram, Senior Advocate for the petitioner in the case, which was supported by others including the Amicus Curiae and senior counsel Prashant Bhushan.
The Bench has also made observations that such an action by the State Govt. amounts to putting the cart before the horse. Another controversy erupted during the hearing September 24, when P. Chidambaram observed that the State Govt. has deliberately reflected false information in its affidavit before the SC, when it noted that ‘Nath will be examined’ by CBI during its course of investigation, whereas the facts on record indicated that ‘he may be examined’. This is a serious matter as it is perceived as false representation of facts before the Court with intention to mislead. Now that the new fact has emerged that Sanjeeb Panda and RP Koche are facing CBI investigation in chit fund cases, the State Govt. chose not to call for the latest status on them before recommending their cases to UPSC.
Such a selective attitude in the process of selection may now face fresh scrutiny before the Court, leading to further possible controversy for the State Govt. While facts about the interrogation of two officers by the CBI in the chit fund scam have been consciously suppressed, deliberate attempts were made to show that the CBI may examine Nath in connection with the SI scam, the only reason for which his Integrity Certificate was withdrawn.
Another point of law could emerge that during the course of argument, learned Solicitor General, Tushar Mehta, had specifically mentioned that ‘to provide updated information on every officer named in the proposal, the State Govt., as a measure of abundant caution and due diligence, reviewed the Integrity Certificate of all the eligible officers, including that of Susanta Kumar Nath during the first week of August, 2026.’
Moreover, in the affidavit before the Court, the State Govt. has specifically mentioned the above, which now appears to be a stand taken not based on facts. Conscious and deliberate attempts have therefore been made to mislead the Court by suppressing and misrepresenting material facts by the highest Law Officer of the Country and that of the State, who, in a very peculiar situation, had to tender an apology to the Amicus Curiae earlier.
It may be noted that the State Govt. has already been put in a spot on several issues, including the overnight creation of Ex-Cadre posts and promotion of two officers to make them eligible for empanelment in violation of the IPS(Pay) Rules. Similarly, the violation of the procedure laid down by UPSC based on the direction of the Supreme Court in the Prakash Singh case has also come under intense scrutiny during the hearing, dragging this process for more than one and a half months by now. Besides, the ill-conceived comments by the Advocate General, Pitambar Acharya, on the Supreme Court-appointed Amicus Curiae have already attracted adverse reactions.
On this, the Solicitor General, Tushar Mehta, has already apologised for the above episode in the open Court during the hearing. In this scenario, everybody is anxiously waiting to see whether the hearing will meet its finality on the next date of hearing September 29, or it could be further dragged, pushing the appointment of DGP for the state of Odisha into limbo.
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