By Sunit Mishra, OP
Bhubaneswar: While the hearing in the Supreme Court regarding the selection of Odisha’s DGP is underway, Raju Ramachandran, the amicus curiae assisting the Apex Court in this matter, submitted a report September 7 to the three-judge bench headed by the Chief Justice.
On August 13, the amicus curiae had informed the bench that the Odisha government had apparently not properly complied with the judgment delivered by the High Court in the 2006 Prakash Singh case while carrying out the process of appointing the Odisha DGP.
After hearing this, the bench directed the amicus curiae to prepare and submit a report on the matter. Raju Ramachandran has now submitted his report. In it, he has specifically pointed out that the government appears to have acted hastily in promoting two officers of the same rank to the DG level. He stated that, for the appointment of a new DGP, the state government had submitted a list of 11 IPS officers to the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) May 14, 2026.
From this list, the UPSC was expected to shortlist three IPS officers and send their names to the state government. A meeting between the UPSC and the state government was scheduled for August 7 for this purpose. However, on August 3, the state Home Department reportedly asked the UPSC about the progress of the investigation into alleged irregularities in the 2025 examination and about the role of 1993-batch IPS officer Sushant Kumar Nath in the matter.
A day later, on August 4, the UPSC reportedly replied that Sushant Nath could be questioned if necessary. On the basis of this communication, his service records/certificates were withdrawn from the UP SC, and he was excluded from the DGP selection process. However, no FIR or charge sheet has been filed against Nath so far. On August 8, the state government wrote to the Ministry of Home Affairs, stating that two senior IPS officers of the 1994 batch Sanjeeb Panda and Yeshwant Jethwa had completed the required period of service and therefore should be promoted to the DG rank. The Ministry of Home Affairs granted permission for this the following day.
On the 10th, the state government issued an order promoting Panda and Jethwa to the DG-level/Level-16 rank. However, at the time of the promotion, Panda had completed only 30 years, 11 months and 14 days of service. Therefore, the reason cited for obtaining the Ministry of Home Affairs’ approval for the promotion does not appear to be consistent with the actual period of service. There are two cadre posts at the DG level in the state. The government can also place two additional officers against cadre posts at the same level under the applicable rules.
The Odisha government had already placed four officers at the DG level. Sushant Kumar Nath, meanwhile, had been serving in the central government as the BSF DG. After his return to Odisha, the state government was required to accommodate him at the appropriate level. By that time, IPS officers of the 1993 batch who were junior to Nath had already been promoted to the DG level. At that time, among others, 1990-batch IPS officer Y.B. Khurania, 1990-batch IPS officer Sudhan shu Sarangi, 1993-batch IPS officer Binayatosh Mishra and R.P. Koche were serving at the DG level.
After Nath returned, the number of officers at the DG level in Odisha became five. Nevertheless, on February 2, 2026, the state government requested the Ministry of Home Affairs to approve the promotion of Sanjeeb Panda and Yeshwant Jethwa to the DG level. At that time, the Ministry raised a question regarding the proposal, pointing out that Khurania was due to retire August 16 and that the other officer had approximately 10 months of service remaining.
The Ministry questioned how three officers at the DG level could be appointed when there were only two sanctioned cadre posts, and accordingly did not approve the proposal at that stage. However, the state government subsequently made another request to the Ministry of Home Affairs to promote the same two officers to the DG level—this time shortly before Khurania’s retirement and with only about three months and 20 days of service remaining for the other officer.
The Ministry then granted approval. In other words, the very issue that the Ministry had questioned February 9, was treated as acceptable August 8. August 8 was a Saturday and August 9 was a Sunday, making the period a holiday/weekend. Despite this, the Ministry of Home Affairs granted approval for the promotion of the two IPS officers on a holiday.
According to amicus curiae Raju Ramachandran, 48 hours before the August 7 meeting with the UPSC, one IPS officer was removed from the list without any apparent reason, while 72 hours later two officers were promoted to the DG level and subsequently brought into consideration for the DGP selection.