Who should run PSPCL, PSTCL: IAS officers or technocrats? Punjab opens top posts to IAS, relaxes criteria to accommodate favourites
Kanwar Inder Singh/ royalpatiala.in News/ April 1,2026
Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) and Punjab State Transmission Corporation Limited (PSTCL) have reserved four posts for the IAS lobby along with the technocrats following recent changes in the selection criteria for CMDs and Directors in PSPCL/PSTCL.
As per the latest notification, both power utilities—PSPCL and PSTCL—now have different parameters for the selection of CMDs. Along with technocrats, the state government may appoint an IAS officer who has served or is serving at the rank of Secretary or above, whether in service or retired, to the post of Chairman-cum-Managing Director (CMD), PSPCL.
Similarly, for PSTCL, either a technocrat or a serving IAS officer with at least 16 years of experience in the IAS is eligible to hold the post of CMD.
On the other hand, a serving IAS officer with at least 12 years of experience is eligible for the post of Director (Finance), PSPCL. However, IAS officers are not eligible for the same post in the sister concern, PSTCL.
A serving IAS officer with at least 12 years of experience is also eligible for the post of Director (HR), PSPCL.
Besides these changes, the selection criteria for the posts of Directors have also been revised. Now, Superintending Engineers (SEs) who have worked for three years in the relevant field are eligible to apply, replacing the earlier requirement that only Chief Engineers (CEs) with two years of experience could apply.
“By doing this, the status of the posts has been lowered just to accommodate favourites. Earlier, it was alleged that the criteria for CMD’s post was lowered to adjust a Secretary-level officer, and now the criteria for Director posts have been diluted to adjust an SE for the post of Director (Generation),” alleged a senior retired engineer of the powercom.
Moreover, Powercom engineers are greatly perturbed by the changes made by the Punjab government in the selection criteria for the posts of CMDs and Directors for PSPCL/PSTCL.
In the name of providing a wider choice, the government has reduced the eligibility requirements. Now, Chief Engineers with two years of experience or Superintending Engineers with three years of experience in the relevant field are eligible to apply for these posts.
As per the revised parameters for the post of Director (Generation), Chief Engineers with two years of service—even without any experience in the generation field—are eligible. This effectively makes non-generation engineers eligible for the post of Director (Generation).
Further, Superintending Engineers who have worked for only three years in generation, without even being promoted to Chief Engineer, are also eligible. Earlier, only engineers with 20 or more years of experience in the generation field and at least one year of service as Chief Engineer were eligible to apply.
Ajay Pal Singh Atwal, General Secretary, said that such experimentation will affect the functioning of power utilities, and the main sufferers will be consumers, who may face power shortages during peak periods.
With these amendments, the government is lowering the status of CMD and Director posts, said.
