Standoff brews between Punjab govt and power engineers over appointment of IAS as PSPCL and PSTCL CMDs

A bitter standoff is brewing between the Punjab government and the power-sector engineers in the state. It all started after the state govt amended eligibility criteria for top leadership positions at Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) and Punjab State Transmission Corporation Limited (PSTCL). What has come to particularly irk the power engineers most is a provision that mandates appointing secretary-level IAS officers as Chairmen-cum-Managing Directors (CMDs).

The PSEB Engineers’ Association has written to the Punjab CM against this move, saying the changes violated long-standing agreements. The association said the amendments were introduced in a cabinet meeting held on March 29 this year and were notified by the Department of Power on March 30.

The provision to appoint secretary-level IAS officers as CMDs of PSPCL and PSTCL is virtually proving to be the most contentious issue. The association argued that permitting IAS officers to lead these utilities effectively “downgrades” positions that require oversight of highly technical and operationally complex systems.

The association also alleged that the move violated the Tripartite Agreement (TPA) executed during the restructuring of the Punjab State Electricity Board.

The association had raised its objection to CM Bhagwant Mann in a communication on December 23 last year, flagging that the appointment of a secretary-level IAS officer as CMD in October 2025 violated Clause 5(g) of the TPA.

However, the govt codified an administrative route for IAS officers, according to which the state govt could appoint an IAS officer, serving or retired, who reached the rank of secretary as CMD at PSPCL. For CMD of PSTCL, a serving IAS officer with at least 16 years of experience was made an essential requirement. Similarly, administrative alternatives were introduced for Directors of Finance and Human Resources, allowing the appointment of serving IAS officers with at least 12 years of experience.

The association also pointed to changes affecting Technical Director posts.

PSPCL officials say the amendments lowered the bar for Director (Generation) of PSPCL, as earlier, candidates needed to have served as a Chief Engineer (CE) for a minimum of one year, with at least five years at the SE/CE level in the Generation field, or 20 years overall in Generation.

Under the new criteria, a CE who served for two years in any field, without a single day in generation, became eligible, as did a Superintending Engineer (SE) with three years of generation experience even without promotion to CE.

This made non-generation engineers eligible for the top technical role overseeing generation operations while excluding experienced generation engineers who served 20 years or more in the field but completed less than two years at the CE level.

According to them, similar anomalies were introduced for Director (Distribution), Director (Commercial) of PSPCL, and Director (Technical) of PSTCL.

The controversy followed earlier developments. “This is part of a pattern dating back to October 2025, when the government appointed an IAS officer—then at the secretary level—as CMD of PSPCL, which was already a violation of the eligibility criteria in force at the time. The government subsequently amended the qualifications to retroactively accommodate a secretary-level appointment.

The PSEB Engineers’ Association, in its memo to the CM on Wednesday, warned that shifting away from professional and technocratic management could have immediate consequences for the state and said undermining technical leadership could affect the state’s long-term interests, including potential implications for the forthcoming paddy season, a period of peak power demand in Punjab.

The Association has demanded immediate withdrawal of the amendments and a return to the consultative process prescribed in the 2011 Power Department notification.

PSEBE Association General Secretary Ajaypal Singh Atwal went a step further and described diluted leadership qualifications as “artificially lowered loss figures and manipulation of other parameters” to distort PSPCL’s revenue stream that could prove a “death knell” for the Punjab power sector.