The Bhagwant Mann-led Punjab government has reportedly forwarded a panel of 14 senior IPS officers to the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) for the shortlisting of three candidates for the post of regular Director General of Police (DGP)
By NSB.News
The list includes prominent officers such as Gaurav Yadav (IPS: 1992: PB), Sharad Satya Chauhan (IPS: 1992: PB), Kuldeep Singh (IPS: 1992: PB), Harpreet Singh Sidhu (IPS: 1992: PB), Gurpreet Kaur Deo (IPS: 1993: PB), Jitendra Kumar Jain (IPS: 1993: PB), Shashi Prabha Dwivedi (IPS: 1993: PB), Sudhanshi Shekhar Srivastava (IPS: 1994: PB), P K Sinha (IPS: 1994: PB), Amardeep Singh Rai (IPS: 1994: PB) and V Neeraja (IPS: 1994: PB), among others.
The move comes amid scrutiny over the appointment of acting DGPs. In February, the Supreme Court had expressed concern and pulled up several states, including Punjab, for continuing with officiating DGPs instead of appointing regular ones as per prescribed guidelines.
Earlier, the Punjab government had passed the Punjab Police (Amendment) Bill, 2023, which allows the state to appoint the DGP through a separate state-level committee. However, the bill is still awaiting the President’s assent.
Notably, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government had appointed Gaurav Yadav as officiating DGP in July 2022 after the then police chief V K Bhawra (Retd IPS: 1987: PB) was sent on leave. The final selection of the regular DGP will now depend on the UPSC’s shortlisted panel.