Power minister unauthorizedly interacted with applicants before arrest; PSEBEA flags concerns over applicants’ credentials to CM
Kanwar Inder Singh/ royalpatiala.in News/ May 10,2026
PSEB Engineers Association (PSEBEA) has urged the chief minister against the unauthorized interaction for Director Generation applicants conducted by Power Minister and CMD PSPCL on 8th May and this violates valid selection norms.
Ajaypal Singh Atwal, General Secretary in letter has requested that the amendments made in the qualifications and eligibility criteria for the posts of CMDs/Directors, issued in violation of the Tripartite Agreement, should also be withdrawn forthwith.
“The interview conducted by the Minister and CMD is illegal and tantamount to an exercise aimed at exerting pressure on the authorised selection committee which is constitured to make a judicious and impartial recommendation for such high level position” said Atwal.
More than 2 dozen chief engineers and engineer in chief have applied for the post of the Director generation and out of these applicants 7 were selected for the interaction/ interview by the power minister.
It may be mentioned that PSPCL shall make power purchase of Rs.20,000 crores per annum and the engineers interacted had no ground practical experience in thermal generation and power purchase.
As per available information, one Engineer recently promoted has hydro generation experience, while one is the Chief Engineer who was recently rejected for the position of Director Commercial due to a bad career profile. Three Chief Engineers have spent their whole career in distribution and two Chief Engineers out of them have a bad reputation and career profile. Two CEs have served mostly in head office jobs with no practical exposure to run thermal / hydro generation.
None of them has been deemed fit to attend such unauthorised interview by the Minister. As per sources,7 candidates appeared in interview are
- Er. Inderjit Singh Chief Engineer Thermal Design, Patiala
- Er. Punnardeep Singh Brar Chief Engineer P&M, Ludhiana
- Er. Harmohan Kaur Chief Engineer, PSTCL, Patiala
- Er. SR Vashisht, Chief Engineer Distribution Projects. Patiala
- and others …
As per norms only the duly constituted Selection Committee comprising the Chief Secretary, Secretary Power, and a power sector expert from the central government is authorised to recommend names for appointment to the post of Director Generation. By what authority Minister Conducted interviews?
The interaction/ interview by the power minister is an attempt to exert undue influence upon the authorised selection committee and such unauthorised processes be stopped immediately.
