Amidst the fingers also raised over the Punjab police’s responsibility in the “security lapses” during the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit a day before, the State Government is set to appoint 1987-batch IPS officer VK Bhawra as the new Punjab DGP.
It has been learnt that the decision has been taken and it is just the matter of announcement, which could be made by late Thursday evening. With this, Punjab would get its third DGP in past three months.
Till the filing of the report, a meeting between the Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, Deputy Chief Minister-cum-Home Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, the state Chief Secretary Anirudh Tiwari, besides other senior officials was being held to put the final stamp of approval on the name.
Besides deciding on the name of new state police chief, the meeting will also discuss the State Government’s response to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs’ missive on the Prime Minister’s security breach.
Bhawra is likely to replace 1986-batch IPS officer Siddharth Chattopadhyaya, who is facing severe criticism over the PM’s “security lapse”. The move is expected after the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) had, on Tuesday, sent the panel of three officers, sans the name of incumbent Chattopadhyaya.
With this, the poll-bound state is expected to get a permanent DGP ahead of elections — a key demand raised by the opposition with the Election Commission of India (ECI).
The current officiating DGP Siddharth Chattopadhyay is due for retirement on March 31. UPSC, which held its meeting on Tuesday, had recommended a panel of three officers to the State Government “on the basis of seniority and merit”. Other than Bhawra, it included the names of 1987-batch IPS officer Dinkar Gupta, and 1988-batch Prabodh Kumar “based on the UPSC criteria of seniority, merit, and six-month tenure”.
Bhawra has emerged as the frontrunner for the post of the DGP of the poll bound state. It has been learnt that Gupta and Prabodh are going on deputation to the Centre.
Notably, the then DGP, Dinkar Gupta had gone on a long leave after the change of guard in Punjab in September last. The government had then given the officiating charge to Inder Preet Singh Sahota.
As per the procedure, the Punjab Government had earlier sent the names of its 10 senior-most officers to the UPSC. The list included the names of Chattopadhyay, MK Tiwari, Rohit Choudhary, Iqbal Preet Singh Sahota, Sanjeev Kalra, Parag Jain, and Barjinder Kumar Uppal, besides those likely in contention.
The State Government had, on December 17, appointed 1986-batch IPS officer Chattopadhyaya as the officiating DGP, replacing Sahota — whose removal the state Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu has been demanding ever since his appointment on the top post.
When Charanjit Singh Channi took over as the Chief Minister replacing Capt Amarinder Singh, Gupta went on leave. The government did not immediately remove Gupta, but sent a list of 10 officers, including Chattopadhyaya, on September 30 to the UPSC to for a panel.
The Government them removed Gupta from the DGP post on October 5. Considering that the post fell vacant on October 5, the UPSC took into account the names of the officers whose more than six-month service is left. As per this criterion, Chattopadhyaya could not make it to the consideration zone, and thus left out.