The Supreme Court on Thursday questioned the Odisha government over the exclusion of senior IPS officer Sushant Kumar Nath from the panel of officers being considered for appointment as DGP after the CBI said he might need to be questioned in a recruitment examination scam.
The Odisha government had forwarded a panel of 11 senior IPS officers to the Union Public Service Commission in May to select a successor to the outgoing DGP. Nath’s name was subsequently withdrawn after the CBI said he might need to be examined in connection with the case.
Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V. Mohana asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Odisha government, whether the state was effectively treating Nath as an accused by withholding his integrity certificate.
“Withholding integrity certificate is going too far. Are you putting him in the category of accused?” Justice Bagchi asked.
The court was hearing a PIL alleging that the Odisha government was attempting to include a junior officer in the list of probable DGP candidates in violation of the Supreme Court’s directions in the 2006 Prakash Singh case.
Mehta said Nath was chairman of the Odisha Police Recruitment Board, which conducted the examination for recruitment of sub-inspectors. The CBI had informed the state that the entire examination process was under investigation and that Nath “may be required to be examined”.
Senior advocate Karuna Nundy, appearing for Nath, said he was not named as an accused in any FIR and that there had been no complaint against him.
The hearing will resume on September 29.
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