Chandigarh: With Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann giving his nod, Punjab is set to send a proposal containing names of as many as 14 Indian Police Service (IPS) officers to the UPSC early next week for consideration by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) empanelment committee to shortlist three candidates for the post of regular DGP in the state.From among the panel of three officers shortlisted by the committee, Punjab will have the discretion to appoint one among them as the regular DGP of the state. The DGP thus appointed will have a minimum tenure of two years, irrespective of date of superannuation, as per the landmark judgment of the Supreme Court in 2006 in the Prakash Singh versus Union of India case and the subsequent UPSC guidelines. Punjab chief minister is learnt to have cleared the proposal containing the names of 14 eligible officers. It is set to be sent to the UPSC early next week, a govt functionary told the TOI. Following the Supreme Court directions on Feb 5, where the apex court pulled up some states, including Punjab, for having acting DGPs, the UPSC first asked Punjab to send a proposal within 10 days. A reminder by the UPSC followed after Punjab did not send the proposal within the stipulated time. Punjab currently has 16 DGP-rank officers. Two of the DGP-rank officers of the 1993 batch of the IPS, Special DGP (Law & Order) Arpit Shukla and Special DGP (Human Resource Development & Welfare) Ishwar Singh, are due to retire on April 30 and May 31, respectively, this year. As per the UPSC guidelines, any officer to be considered for appointment as state DGP should have a minimum of six months’ residual service left from the date of occurrence of the vacancy. In Punjab’s case, the UPSC has fixed Feb 5, the day the Supreme Court directed the UPSC to act against the states continuing with acting DGPs, as the date of occurrence of vacancy for the DGP’s post. Another Punjab cadre IPS officer, of the 1989 batch, the current chief of Research & Analysis Wing (RAW), Parag Jain, while being on central deputation, who otherwise is eligible to be considered for the top post, has expressed his unwillingness for the post and simultaneously the ministry of home affairs also did not approve his repatriation to Punjab, a functionary said. The 14 DGP-rank officers in Punjab eligible to be considered for the top post are 1992-batch IPS officers, acting DGP Gaurav Yadav, Special DGP (Punjab Police Housing Corporation) Sharad Satya Chauhan, Special DGP (Anti Narcotics Task Force) Kuldeep Singh and Harpeeet Singh Sidhu (awaiting posting); 1993-batch IPS officers, Special DGP (Community Affairs Division & Women Affairs) Gurpreet Kaur Deo, Special DGP (Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd) Dr Jitendra Kumar Jain, Special DGP (Railway) Shashi Prabha Dwivedi; and 1994-batch IPS officers, Special DGP (Headquarters) Sudhanshi Shekhar Srivastava, Special DGP-cum-chief director, Vigilance Bureau, Praveen Kumar Sinha, Special DGP (Traffic & Road Safety) Aamardeep Singh Rai, Special DGP (Cyber Crime) Voruvuru Neeraja, Special DGP-cum-director, Maharaja Ranjit Singh Punjab Police Academy (MRSPPA), Phillaur, Anita Punj, Special DGP (Human Rights) Dr Naresh Kumar and Special DGP (Tech Services) Ram Singh. Notably, superseding several senior officers at that time, 1992-batch IPS officer Gaurav Yadav was appointed as acting DGP of Punjab in July 2022 by the AAP-led govt, which stormed to Punjab earlier that year in March. Yadav continues to head the state police force as acting DGP ever since. Now, since Yadav will be one of the contenders for the post of regular DGP of the state, UPSC has allowed Punjab to include the state home secretary in his place in the empanelment committee, along with the chief secretary. Punjab last month made the request to the UPSC in this regard. As per the UPSC guidelines, apart from the chief secretary and the DGP of the concerned state, the UPSC empanelment committee comprises the UPSC chairman or a member acting as chairman, Union home secretary or his nominee not below the rank of special secretary to the Union govt, head of the central police organisation nominated by the MHA who is not from the state cadre for which the selection is made.Punjab scenarioThe state has been continuing with acting DGP since July 2022 when AAP-led govt appointed Gaurav Yadav on the post. After the Supreme Court took serious note of some states having acting DGP culture on Feb 5, the UPSC fixed Feb 5 as date of occurrence of vacancy. The guidelines otherwise mandate that a state has to send a proposal three months prior to the occurrence of the vacancy. Punjab, which has been delaying sending the proposal, tried to take refuge in the Punjab Police Amendment Bill (2023) the Punjab Assembly passed in 2023. Apparently aimed at circumventing the Supreme Court-mandated UPSC procedure, the bill provided for a state-controlled seven-member committee to select the DGP from a pool of eligible officers. On March 12, the Supreme Court trashed the Punjab govt’s argument, where the state, while referring to the bill, submitted that it was lying with the President.
