The Punjab government has sent a panel all nine eligible DGP-rank officers of the state cadre to the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) for selection of its next state police chief. Till the new DGP is appointed by the Central government, which may take a considerable time, the incumbent DGP, Suresh Arora will continue on the post.
This move is aimed at avoiding any further controversy on the selection of Director General of Police (DGP). The Supreme Court had recently rejected a petition by Punjab, Haryana, West Bengal, Bihar and Kerala to select their own DGPs without involving the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) as directed by the apex court earlier. The state wanted to make the selection through an internal committee but SC refused to allow them to do so.
Arora had expressed to the state government his unwillingness to accept the extension given to him by the Centre. But he has agreed to continue in office till the new DGP is appointed to avoid any vacuum in the police governance.
As per reports on the procedure of appointment of a state DGP following the Supreme Court’s order on the issues, a state was required to give names of at least five officers eligible for the post to the UPSC, after which in turn will select three names from the panel out of which state government will select one officer.
According to sources, Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh cleared the panel of nine officers after obtaining a legal clearance on the names of the officers. The state Home Secretary has been asked to send the names further to the UPSC.
The panel includes names as per the IPS cadre seniority list. The officers listed are Samant Goel (IPS:1984) who is on current deputation with the Centre, Mohd Mustafa (IPS:1985), Hardeep Singh Dhillon (IPS:1985), Jasminder Singh(IPS:1986), Sidharth Chattopadhyaya (IPS:1986), Dinkar Gupta (IPS:1987), CSR Reddy (IPS:1987), MK Tiwari (IPS:1987) and VK Bhawra (1987).
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