Odisha appoints Vinaytosh Mishra as acting DGP amid police chief selection row
Vinaytosh Mishra will take charge as Odisha DGP on August 16 as the Supreme Court hears a plea challenging the state’s police chief selection process.
Odisha has appointed Vinaytosh Mishra, a senior IPS officer, as acting director general of police (DGP) to fill the position left vacant by outgoing DGP Y.B. Khurania, who is retiring on August 16. Mishra, who is currently the DGP of the Crime Branch and Criminal Investigation Department, will take on the additional responsibilities until further notice.
The appointment was made a day after the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) informed the Supreme Court that it would postpone the selection process for the next police chief in the state until August 18. This decision comes after a public interest litigation challenged the state government's selection process, citing non-compliance with the Supreme Court's prescribed procedure for appointing DGPs as outlined in the Prakash Singh case.
The court, in a recent hearing, emphasized that any deviation from the prescribed process is unacceptable and that the UPSC must not finalize the appointment before the next hearing date. The legal dispute focuses on the procedure set out in the Prakash Singh case, which mandates that states must follow a particular process for appointing DGPs, with the UPSC preparing a panel of eligible officers and the state government selecting the police chief from that panel.
Senior advocate P. Chidambaram, representing the petitioner in the case, argued that the state government had violated the Supreme Court's directions by promoting an additional DGP and attempting to include him in the candidate list for the DGP post. The state government's Advocate General countered that Khurania's impending retirement could result in an acting DGP if the appointment process wasn't completed.
The UPSC had been scheduled to meet on Thursday to choose the new DGP, but the meeting has been postponed. The Supreme Court's chief justice, Surya Kant, expressed concern that any breach of the court's directions could lead to the set aside of the appointment, while Justice Bagchi stated that the court was primarily concerned with whether the court's earlier orders had been followed.
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