Senior IPS officer Vinaytosh Mishra to hold additional charge as DGP and head of the police force from August 16. Odisha’s incumbent DGP YB Khurania will retire on Sunday. (Express Photo/ Enhanced with AI)Amid a legal stalemate over the selection of Odisha’s new Director General of Police (DGP), the state government on Friday assigned senior IPS officer Vinaytosh Mishra to hold additional charge as DGP and head of the police force from August 16. Odisha’s incumbent DGP YB Khurania will retire on Sunday.This comes as the Supreme Court continues to hear a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) that challenged the state’s selection process, saying it violated a landmark court ruling.Mishra, a 1993-batch IPS officer currently serving as DG, CID and Crime Branch, will head the state’s police force until the appointment of a full-time DGP. A native of Bihar, Mishra also has less than three months of service left as he retires in November. The state government has to assign additional charge to a senior officer to head the police force.The Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Supreme Court alleges that the Odisha government had not followed the procedure laid down in the top court’s landmark judgment in the Prakash Singh vs Union of India case for the appointment of DGPs.Appearing for the petitioner, senior advocate P Chidambaram told a Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant that an officer was given a promotion and that his name was being included in the panel sent to the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).Although the UPSC meeting to select three names for Odisha’s next DGP was slated for Thursday evening, it deferred the meeting and assured the apex court that the meeting to finalise three names for DGP will not be convened till August 18, when the court will consider the petition.“We hope the Supreme Court will give an appropriate order, following which a full-time DGP will be appointed,” said a senior officer.Story continues below this adTop sources in the government said Panda, who is currently heading the anti-Naxal operations and special intelligence wing, is considered a frontrunner for the DGP post, while 1990-batch officer Sudhanshu Sarangi, currently DG, fire services, and 1993-batch officer RP Koche, serving as director, intelligence, are also in contention.Meanwhile, outgoing police chief Khurania met Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi at the state secretariat.Sujit Bisoyi is a Special Correspondent with the Indian Express and covers Odisha. His interests are in politics, policy and people’s stories. He tweets at @bisoyisujit87 ... Read More Tags:Odisha