By Our Correspondent
NEW DELHI/BHUBANESWAR: The Supreme Court on Tuesday heard the Odisha DGP appointment dispute today, days after questioning whether the State knew of a CBI request to examine senior IPS officer Susanta Kumar Nath when his name was considered for the DGP post
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appearing for Odisha said “ Please see, where two names are given: Sanjeev Kumar Panda and Yashwant Kumar Jethwa.As can be seen from the table, Shri Sanjeev Kumar Panda and Shri Yashwant Kumar Jethwa are likely to get promotion to the grade of DGP towards the end of 2026 and middle of 2027 respectively. That is after a long wait of three-and-a-half years, as they have been eligible for promotion to the DG grade with effect from January 1, 2024, after completion of 30 years of service. Such delayed promotion will cause demotivation amongst officers. Also, both officers are retiring in 2028 and have already reached the fag end of their service period,’
SG argued that “ Now this is important. Besides, an earlier request had been made by this department’s letter dated December 11, 2024 to accord concurrence to the creation of two temporary .. this is not an ex-cadre post ..temporary ex-cadre posts in Level 16.This happened in 2024, not at the fag end when the UPSC was to decide. Therefore, it was requested that prior approval of the Central Government may kindly be accorded to creation of two temporary .. I am highlighting the word “temporary”; something turns on that .. ex-cadre posts in the DG grade in Level 16 of the IPS for a period of two years or till regular vacancies arise in the grade, whichever is earlier, to facilitate promotion of the above-mentioned two IPS officers of the 1994 batch to the DG grade,’.
‘The difficulty is, it is always projected before this Court, by one side or the other, that State authorities always act in bad faith. Please have a look at the positive side. We have three officers, but the State can say that there are other good officers likely to be promoted in a few months.It is respectfully submitted that MHA concurred with the State Government’s contention and granted clearance on August 9, 2026 for creation of two ex-cadre posts temporarily,” SG told the CJI led Bench.
SG Mehta argued that Ex-cadre posts in the grade of DGP in Pay Level 16, with immediate effect and till August 16, 2026 and November 30, 2026. So, regular cadre posts from the date of retirement and temporary ex-cadre posts with immediate effect.Now comes the answer which the Court had asked me. Paragraph 80.It is respectfully submitted that a Screening Committee held a meeting on August 10, 2026 to consider the cases of eligible IPS officers for promotion to the grade of Director General of Police. It concluded that, on evaluation of performance appraisal reports, other records as a whole, and on general assessment of performance, the Committee found the two officers fit for promotion to the grade of DGP, Level 16 of the IPS, he said.
‘A copy of the minutes of the meeting is at page 109. The Chief Justice was right that there is a procedure. Since that procedure was to be followed, the Committee consisted of the Chief Secretary, ACS Home, DGP Odisha and another officer, DC-cum-ACS. This is the screening which was done.In other words, Sanjeev Kumar Panda and Yashwant Kumar Jethwa were promoted to the grade of Director General of Police in Level 16 of the IPS upon following the prescribed procedure of consideration by the Screening Committee, which assessed the respective merits of the eligible candidates, SG argued.
SG said ‘Their promotion was temporary and was to continue until vacancies arose on August 16, 2026 and November 30, 2026. I had said that two officers were to retire. One has already retired on August 16 and one is yet to retire.However, there is no prescribed procedure governing promotion from temporary ex-cadre to ex-cadre, or ex-cadre to cadre.
The Court would recall that the Central Government had already said that, with effect from the date on which their seniors retire, they would move from ex-cadre to cadre. That is how, from August 16, 2026, one became Level 16 against the cadre vacancy. The other is yet to do so because the second officer has not yet retired,”.
‘But the crux of the matter is that there are two kinds of lists contemplated by the UPSC guidelines and by their logic.One is the list which the State sends to the UPSC, where the State can send Level 16 plus Level 15 officers, subject to their achieving Level 16.
The reason is that the State, which ultimately has responsibility for law and order, can always say: if you are simply going by one, two, three in seniority, then what is the question of the UPSC being involved? Whoever is number one will be promoted.But here, it is suitability which decides who will be the head of the police force.So the State can say: I have a pool of five people. Three are Level 16, the others are Level 15. By the time you decide, they might become Level 16, so that you have a larger pool.Number two, the UPSC guidelines also say that if Level 16 officers are not found suitable, they can even choose from Level 15. Meaning thereby, Level 15 officers can also be sent,” he said.
