SUNIT MISHRA, OP
Bhubaneswar/New Delhi: The Supreme Court will hear Wednesday a petition concerning the selection of Odisha’s director general of police (DGP). A three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohan will hear the matter.
Jayant Das of Baleshwar had filed a public interest litigation (PIL), alleging that the state government had not complied with the SC’s 2006 judgment in the Prakash Singh case on the selection of DGPs. While the matter was being heard by the SC, its amicus curiae, Raju Ramachandra, also alleged that the government had not maintained transparency in the DGP selection process. Following the court’s directions, the amicus curiae has already submitted two reports. Ramachandra has also raised questions over the manner in which the government promoted two additional director general (ADG)-rank officers to the rank of DGP.
Meanwhile, former Intelligence Bureau (IB) special director Yashvardhan Jha Azad had also written to the SC alleging that the state government had not maintained transparency in the DGP selection process. He said that if the state government was allowed to select the DGP in violation of the SC’s judgment, similar deviations could occur in other states as well.
The controversy further intensified after the state government, May 14, withdrew at the last moment the integrity certificate of 1993-batch IPS offi cer Sushant Kumar Nath, currently serving as DGP (Prisons), from a list of 11 IPS officers prepared for selection to the post of DGP. As a result, Nath was excluded from the race for the post.
The government withdrew his integrity certificate citing a letter stating that Nath could be questioned in connection with the SI examination scheduled to be held in the state in 2025. However, allegations have been made that the government did not properly follow the prescribed procedure for excluding a candidate from consideration for the post of DGP in Nath’s case. Claiming that the state government had acted unfairly towards him, Sushant moved the SC September 7, seeking to be impleaded as a party in the case.
Nath’s lawyer, Karuna Nundy, told the court that the state government had unnecessarily tried to humiliate Nath. She said there had been no corruption allegation against him during his 32 years of service. She also contended that the manner in which the state government withdrew Nath’s integrity certificate from the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) was wholly illegal.
The state government is expected to respond before the SC to the issues raised in the matter. All eyes are now on the government’s response to the questions raised by the amicus curiae, Jayant Das and, most recently, Sushant Nath.
