The Union Ministry of Home Affairs sent a letter to state government questioning them on why they are continuing with acting DGP for last 8 months. MHA in the letter sought answers from Punjab government over not sending IPS officers’ panel to UPSC for DGP selection and not having permanent DGP for the state to maintain law & order. After VK Bhawra going on Central Deputation, IPS Gaurav Yadav was appointed as the acting DGP of state in July 2022 and since then no permanent DGP has been elected for Punjab.
As soon as the current DGP leaves from the position due to whatever reasons, acting DGP is appointed. Post this, a panel of IPS officers is sent to UPSC for selection of permanent DGP of the state. UPSC then sends three top names and state is free to choose one from that list. The Supreme Court in 2018 directed all the state governments to send a list of top IPS officers to UPSC for selection of DGP.
It’s been 8 months but still UPSC has not received any panel from Punjab government regarding appointment of DGP. According to sources, Punjab government is not in position to send the panel to UPSC due to seniority rank of DGP Gaurav Yadav. Although Punjab Government is inclined to have IPS Gaurav Yadav as state DGP, it is unlikely that UPSC will approve it. IPS Gaurav Yadav may not be approved as state’s DGP because there are 8 more senior officers who can be selected for the post. Names of these officers include Raw Chief Samant Kumar Goel(1984 batch), DGP-NIA Dinkar Gupta(1987 batch), Parag Jain(1989 batch), Harpreet Singh Sidhu(1992 batch), Prabodh Kumar(1988 batch) Sanjeev Kalra(1989 batch) , Sharad Satya Chauhan(1992 batch). While some of them are already on Central Deputation, there are 3 officers above him who could be the next permanent DGP of Punjab.
The law & order of Punjab is at stake due to various reasons and primary being Amritpal Singh. So, there is an urgent need for state to appoint a DGP as soon as possible.