Bhubaneswar: The Supreme Court on Thursday put a temporary hold on the appointment of Odisha’s new Director General of Police, asking the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) not to finalise the selection before August 18.
A bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant issued the direction after senior advocate P Chidambaram mentioned a PIL questioning the process of selecting the Odisha DGP.
The plea claims the selection does not follow the guidelines set in the Supreme Court’s Prakash Singh judgment on police reforms.
Chidambaram informed the court that the UPSC had a meeting scheduled for Thursday to finalise the DGP panel. Seeking urgent intervention, he said the PIL was listed for the day but might not come up for hearing.
He further alleged that an officer was promoted on Wednesday in a way that could help include that officer in the UPSC shortlist.
Odisha Advocate General Pitambar Acharya opposed the claims. He said there was no breach of rules and also raised doubts about the PIL itself, calling it a service-related matter.
The bench too questioned if the PIL could be entertained, with the CJI noting that none of the officers said to be affected by the process had moved the court.
The court then asked for the views of Senior Advocate Raju Ramachandran, who is assisting it as amicus curiae in the Prakash Singh case. Ramachandran backed the petitioner’s argument and said the procedure being followed for appointing Odisha’s DGP was going against the Supreme Court’s laid-down guidelines.
After considering the amicus curiae’s submission, the bench instructed the UPSC’s counsel to postpone the meeting that was scheduled to finalise the selection.
