Finally the suspense on appointment of regular DGP Punjab is over
Kanwar Inder Singh/ royalpatiala.in
Today, the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) met in New Delhi for the appointment of a regular DGP of Punjab police.
Finally, the UPSC has decided on the new DGP amid confusion over the cut-off date for the selection of the new police chief. The previous meeting, scheduled on December 21, was postponed after Punjab raised objections over the UPSC move to consider October 4 as the cut-off date. Punjab wants to fix September 30 as the cut-off date; this will ensure that present officiating DGP Sidharth Chattopadhyaya gets the chance. Punjab wanted to change the cut-off date even after it had first agreed to consider September 30, when the government sent the panel. The UPSC says that since the vacancy was created on October 4, it will consider this as the cut-off date.
As per available information, the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has sent a panel of three senior IPS officers of Punjab to be appointed as next regular DGP of Punjab police.
Finally the suspense on appointment of regular DGP Punjab is over as VK Bhawra (DGP/Punjab Home Guards & Dir.Civil Defence) of 1988 batch is the front runner for the post. The other two officers whose names were forwarded include Parbod Kumar (Special DGP Investigation, Lokpal) and Dinkar Gupta (DGP-cum-Chairman, Punjab Police Housing Corp.). Dinkar Gupta remained DGP in Capt Amarinder Singh’s tenure. All this process started after the change of guard in the state when Charanjit Singh Channi became the chief minister of Punjab. So, Dinkar Gupta is out of the race for the post of DGP.
Finally the suspense on appointment of regular DGP Punjab is over. DGP Dinkar Gupta is going to retire on on march 31,2024, VK Bhawra on May 31,2024, Parbodh Kumar January 31,2025. Three officers who are in the list- Siddharth Chattopadhyaya (31-3-2022), MK Tiwari (28-2-2022) and Rohit Chaudhary (31-3-2022) are going to retire by March 31,2022, means they have less than six months in their retirement.
As per sources, in March 2019, “the Supreme Court had said that only officers who have at least six months of service left before retirement should be considered for the post of Director General of Police (DGP). The bench had said at the time that the “recommendation for appointment to the post of DGP by the Union Public Service Commission and preparation of panel should be purely on the basis of merit from officers who have a minimum residual tenure of six months i.e. officers who have at least six months of service prior to retirement.”
January 4,2022
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