BHUBANESWAR : Nearly three months after his appointment as head of the task-force on drugs trade, former DGP Abhay was posted as Chairman of Odisha Staff Selection Commission (OSSC) on Wednesday.
A notification issued by General Administration and Public Grievance department stated the tenure of appointment of the retired IPS officer Abhay will be for a period of five years from the date of taking charge of the post or till he attains the age of 62 years whichever is earlier. This means he would effectively head OSSC for a year and two months since he was given a six month extension as DGP and was appointed within hours of his superannuation as Chairman of the State task force for matters relating to narcotic drugs.
A 1986-batch IPS officer, Abhay was the DGP of Odisha from November 20, 2019 to December 31, 2021. Although the Odisha Government has a long history of rehabilitating retired bureaucrats, Abhay’s back to back postings in last four months have led to speculation. The OSSC chairperson post was vacant after end of tenure of the Nirmal Mishra. Controversies had surfaced after a personal assistant of the past chairman was caught by Vigilance for accumulation of disproportionate assets.
Meanwhile, there has been no official word on who will be posted as Chairman of the State task force for matters relating to narcotic drugs, a position which was created in December last.