Bhubaneswar: After a gap of almost 18 years, Odisha DGP has invited constables, who have completed seven years in service, in the general category to appear an examination for 584 vacant Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) of Police posts.
“Willingness from Constables of the general category who have completed 7 years of service after passing Constable basic course of training as on January 1, 2017, were invited for appearing in the written examination vide State Police Hqrs letter-number 29517/Board dt July 21, 2017, to fill up 584 vacancies in the rank of ASI of police as on December 31, 2017 as per the prevailing provisions of PMR 660,” the official order said.
The last examination for promotion of constables to ASI rank in the general category was held in 2002.
Stating the reason for not conducting the examination since 2002, the DGP said that the provisions stipulated in PMR-660 governing procedure for appointment of ASIs were not comprehensive and there were a lot of ambiguities regarding the date from which the eligibility criteria should be counted, selection procedure and the validity of the select list of candidates who have passed the examination.
A proposal suggesting an amendment to PMR-660 was then submitted to the State Home Department in February 2018 while seeking a comprehensive recruitment rule for selection of willing, eligible and suitable constables for promotion to officiate as the ASIs. The State Police Headquarters followed it up through letters dated April 24, 2019; June 24, 2020, and July 30, 2020.
Later, the Odisha government enumerated the entire selection process removing the previous ambiguities.