NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Odisha government if it had put a senior IPS officer, whose name was excluded from a list of officers being considered for the DGP's post, in the category of accused in a recruitment exam scam case.
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana passed the order after noting that Odisha government had withdrawn Susanta Kumar Nath's integrity certificate over CBI's request to question him in connection with the case.
The state government, which had forwarded a panel of 11 senior IPS officers to the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) in May to choose a successor to the outgoing DGP, withdrew Nath's name from the panel after the CBI claimed he might needed to be questioned in the case.
The bench asked the Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Odisha government, if the state was putting Nath in the category of accused by withholding his certificate.
"Withholding integrity certificate is going too far. Are you putting him in the category of accused? If it is said that merely because there is such a case pending, the integrity certificate can be withheld, we would be led to draw an inference that puts the cart before the horse," the bench asked.
Mehta said that the state government started the process for DGP recruitment six months before the earlier DGP was to retire as per Prakash Singh guidelines.
He added that according to the CBI, Nath was the chairman of the Odisha Police Recruitment Board, which was conducting the examination for recruitment of Sub-Inspectors of Police. "The CBI said the entire examination process was under investigation, including the role of the examination-conducting agencies, the Odisha Police Recruitment Board, and others,” he said.
He informed that the CBI has sought permission from the officials concerned to examine certain officers. “After receipt of permission and examination of those officials, Sushant Kumar Nath may be required to be examined. This is what the CBI told us on August 4, 2026," Mehta told the court, adding that the CBI investigation was still underway.
He added that after the CBI's request, the state government excluded Nath and forwarded a revised proposal containing integrity certificates in respect of only 10 officers for empanelment.
“It was not done only for one person. Had something been found concerning another officer, that too would have been suitably intimated," Mehta said.
The top court was hearing a PIL alleging that the Odisha government was trying to include a junior officer in the list of probable candidates for DGP, in a breach of the apex court's directions in the 2006 Prakash Singh case.