New Delhi: The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has shot off a letter to Chief Secretaries of seven states, including Odisha, that have temporary DGPs officiating as police chiefs despite availability of eligible officers.
Underlining the SC directives on appointment of DGPs, the Union Home Secretary reminded the ‘defaulting’ states that temporary or “acting DGPs” are to be appointed only in exceptional circumstances. The states have instead been asked to follow the apex court’s directions on appointing regular DGPs with a tenure of two years. “We keep reminding the defaulting states that they must follow SC directions and Union Public Service Commission guidelines on appointment of DGPs. This letter has been sent as part of the same exercise,” the Indian Express quoted an official as saying.
On December 30,2024, the Odisha government appointed 1990-batch IPS officer Arun Kumar Sarangi as acting DGP. “Sarangi, who is the special DG of Police and director of Biju Patnaik State Police Academy (BPSPA), is allowed to remain in additional charge of DG of Police until a regular DGP joins,” a notification issued by the Home Department said.
The government’s order came a day ahead of incumbent DGP Sunil Kumar Bansal’s retirement on December 31. There are seven IPS officers senior to Sarangi in the state, the report said.
Sources, however, said the Naveen Patnaik government appointed him as acting DGP since the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) was yet to convene a meeting to select the names of three probable candidates.
According to the guidelines laid down by the SC, the DGP is appointed by the state government from among the three senior-most officers empanelled for promotion to that rank by the UPSC.
“Honourable Supreme Court had assigned this task (of preparing guidelines) to the UPSC. But unless we receive a proposal which is complete in all respects from the concerned states, we have no role to play at all in this,” UPSC Chairman Manoj Soni had told the national daily earlier this month.
States are either not sending proposals, or the proposals have technical errors, prompting the Commission to send these back, it added.
