The corridors of Punjab’s bureaucratic offices are echoing with uncertainty as at least four Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers, two Indian Police Service (IPS) officers, and a Provincial Civil Service (PCS) officer find themselves in a peculiar predicament — waiting for new assignments after being unexpectedly relieved of their previous postings.
Of these, one officer has been awaiting a posting for over five months, while a senior IPS officer has been in limbo for 42 days. Another officer has been without an assignment for 35 days, one for 29 days, while others' waiting periods range from 12 days to just a day.
If bureaucrats were to form a ‘No Posting Club’, PCS officer Damanjeet Singh Mann would be its veteran. Transferred from his role as Assistant Deputy Commissioner of Mohali in October last year, Mann has been awaiting a new role for the past five months. A 2012-batch PCS officer is popularly called with a short name “Daman Mann”.
Leading the pack of IAS officers is Gurkirat Kirpal Singh, a 2001-batch IAS officer, who was relieved of his duties as Punjab’s home secretary on March 24. Stripped of all responsibilities, Singh has been directed to cool his heels in the Personnel Department, making him the second IAS officer in just 10 days to be left in administrative purgatory.
Before his sudden ouster, Singh juggled multiple roles, overseeing mines and geology, food and drug administration, and even Gurdwara Elections. Now, he is left overseeing… well, nothing.
The bureaucratic game of musical chairs doesn’t stop there. KK Yadav, a 2003-batch IAS officer, has also been in limbo since March 2 after being removed as the Education Department’s Administrative Secretary. His replacement, Anindita Mitra, has long settled into her new role, while Yadav remains without one.
Meanwhile, Puneet Goyal, a 2010-batch IAS officer, was shown the door as Punjab’s Director of Food on February 25, but no new door has opened for him yet. And in Ludhiana, the shuffle continued when Jitender Jorwal, a 2014-batch IAS officer, was relieved of his duties as Deputy Commissioner on March 19, making way for Himanshu Jain. Jorwal, too, awaits his next assignment.
The police brass hasn’t been spared either. Varinder Kumar, once Punjab’s vigilance chief, was removed on February 17 but remains unposted. Ironically, his successor, G Nageswara Rao, was also transferred soon after, but Kumar continues to await a new designation. Adding to the list is IPS officer Kuldeep Chahal, removed as Ludhiana’s police commissioner just last Friday — his next destination still a mystery.
After a bruising defeat in Delhi, the ruling AAP in Punjab has gone into overdrive, resorting to mass transfers and administrative reshuffles in a bid to tighten its grip on governance. With criticism mounting and credibility at stake, the government seems to believe that a game of bureaucratic musical chairs might just set things right. From top IAS and IPS officers to PCS officials, no one is being spared in this high-speed reshuffling spree. Whether this revamp leads to real efficiency or just more officers in waiting remains the big question.
