Defying Centre and Supreme Court ruling, Punjab continues with officiating DGP

Tribune News Service

Jupinderjit Singh

Chandigarh, April 3

It has been almost three weeks since the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had asked the Punjab Government through Chief Secretary VK Janjua why it had not sent a panel of eligible officers to the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) regarding the appointment of a regular Director General of Police (DGP).

Gaurav Yadav has been the officiating DGP for nine months now. The Supreme Court had ruled that a state could have an officiating DGP for a maximum six months.

Yadav was posted as the DGP on July 5 last year in place of VK Bhawra. He took over at a time when the police were facing criticism for Sidhu Moosewala’s killing.

A senior government functionary said no reply had been sent to the MHA yet.

According to sources, the government does not intend to send the panel as the officiating DGP, who is backed by CM Bhagwant Mann and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, will not feature among the top three officers on the basis of seniority.

He is currently ranked ninth on the seniority list of IPS officers of the state. A 1992-batch officer, his batchmates Sharad Satya Chauhan and Hapreet Singh Sidhu are senior to him. Other officers senior to him are R&AW Chief Samant Kumar Goel (1984 batch, on extension till June 2023), NIA DG Dinkar Gupta (1987), Parag Jain (1989), Bhawra, (1987), Prabodh Kumar (1988), and Sanjeev Kalra (1989).

There is a remote possibility that Yadav’s name could feature in the top three senior officers, if all those senior to him decline to take the post or are not included.

The delay in sending a panel of officials is also in violation of the 2018 Supreme Court order, which asked the states to send the panel to the UPSC. Under the rules, a state can have an officiating DGP for six months only. The state can send as many names of eligible officials. The UPSC shortlists three on the basis of seniority, merit and pending tenure. The state is free to choose any one from the three who have been shortlisted.

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