The Odisha government will appoint the next police chief from a panel of three names to be shortlisted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) under the prescribed selection process. While the race for the top post has gathered momentum, the incoming DGP will inherit an overstretched IPS cadre grappling with vacancies, stalled promotions and an acute shortage of officers at key levels.

The latest cadre allocation by the Ministry of Home Affairs has further underscored the challenge. Of the 147 IPS officers allocated across the country through the UPSC Civil Services Examination, 2024, six have been allotted to the Odisha cadre. However, none of them belongs to Odisha, as no candidate from the state qualified for the IPS this year. The development is expected to further widen the imbalance between insider and outsider officers in the state’s police force.

Odisha is currently functioning with just 132 IPS officers against a sanctioned strength of 195, leaving 63 posts vacant, which is one of the highest shortages among states in the country. The shortage has affected policing across the administrative hierarchy, from district-level leadership to senior command positions.

IPS Vacancies Hit Policing

The situation has been further aggravated by the complete absence of promotions from the State Police Service (SPS) to the IPS cadre. Although Odisha has an authorised promotion quota of 59 IPS posts for SPS officers, none has been filled, leaving the entire quota vacant, a senior police officer, who is a native of Odisha, said.

The prolonged delay has also impacted directly recruited Deputy Superintendents of Police (DSPs), many of whom have completed the qualifying service required for induction into the IPS but continue to await promotion.

The manpower crunch is evident even at the field level. Of Odisha's 34 police districts, only seven are currently headed by insider or Odisha-domiciled IPS officers, highlighting the growing dependence on officers from outside the state.

Insider Debate Returns Again

Against this backdrop, the process to select the next DGP has assumed added significance. The Odisha government had initially forwarded a panel of three Director General-rank officers to the UPSC before expanding the list to eleven names for consideration.

Among the leading contenders are Director General of Fire Services Sudhansu Sarangi, a 1990-batch IPS officer, Director General of Prisons Susanta Kumar Nath of the 1993 batch, and Intelligence Director RP Koche, also from the 1993 batch. Sarangi is widely regarded as one of the frontrunners, having recently been empanelled for appointment to the rank of Director General at the Centre. As one of the senior-most serving IPS officers, he is seen as a strong candidate for the state’s top police post. Officers from the 1994 batch, including Sanjeeb Panda and YK Jethwa, are also understood to be in the reckoning.

The UPSC is expected to finalise a panel of three officers later this month, from which the Odisha government will make the final appointment.

The impending selection has also revived debate over whether Odisha will once again have a police chief from the state. The last Odisha-domiciled officer to serve as a full-time DGP was Prakash Mishra in 2012. Since then, the state’s police force has largely been headed by officers from outside Odisha, a trend that has periodically drawn criticism from sections of the police establishment and civil society.

Senior police officers argue that maintaining the prescribed insider-outsider balance is crucial for effective policing. Officers with roots in the state, they contend, often possess a better understanding of local language, culture and socio-political dynamics, enabling them to respond more effectively to administrative and law-and-order challenges.

Challenges Await New DGP

Cadre management has emerged as another pressing concern. Promotion avenues have narrowed because of congestion at senior ranks, with Odisha currently having four Director General-rank officers apart from the DGP and 23 officers holding the rank of Additional Director General of Police. The resulting bottlenecks have delayed promotions across multiple levels of the police hierarchy.

As Odisha prepares for a change of guard at the top, the next DGP will face expectations that extend beyond maintaining law and order. Addressing chronic cadre vacancies, expediting long-pending promotions, improving officer availability across districts and restoring the insider-outsider balance within the IPS cadre are likely to be among the most significant administrative challenges confronting the state's new police chief.