The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a PIL against the Odisha government's decision to appoint the Director General of Police, in breach of the apex court's directions issued in the 2006 Prakash Singh case. "The State of Odisha is breaching the Prakash Singh judgment. In February 2026, the Supreme Court reiterated that States must follow the prescribed procedure for appointing DGPs. The Court has also made it clear that the prescribed eligibility criteria cannot be bypassed merely because the number of eligible officers is limited. In 2019, it directed that the UPSC panel should comprise officers having at least six months of residual service before retirement.