The Chandigarh Police Vs Deputationists

“Many things were responsible for that proposal. IPS officers of AGMUT cadre from Delhi, Punjab police cadre and others were in favour of the proposal. Naturally, inspectors in Chandigarh police were not happy as the proposal would hurt their promotion prospects. They did their best to challenge the move, filing repeated representations, petitions in Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) and the Punjab and Haryana high court as well. But they failed to stop the influx of officers from other cadres. The picture will be clear if one compares the current structure of Chandigarh police with its old structure”, a former senior administrative officer, requesting anonymity, told The Indian Express.

Sanctioned posts

As per the sanctioned posts, the posts of Inspector General of Police (IGP), Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) are sanctioned to Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram and Union Territories (AGMUT) cadre; the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) of UT is for the Punjab police cadre and the SSP (security/traffic) are for Haryana police cadre.

At present, at least eight IPS officers are posted in Chandigarh on deputation. Six of them, including DGP Praveer Ranjan, a 1993 batch IPS, DIG Omvir Singh Bishnoi (promoted to IG recently), 1994 batch IPS, DIG Deepak Purohit, a 2007 batch IPS, SP Ketan Bansal, a 2016 batch, SP Manoj Kumar Meena, a 2012 batch IPS, ASP Shruti Arora, a 2018 batch IPS, ASP Mridul, a 2019 batch IPS, are from the AGMUT cadre and have an upper hand in making of key decisions. SSP (UT) Kuldeep Singh Chahal, a 2009 batch IPS, is from Punjab and SSP (traffic/security) Manisha Chaudhary, a 2011 batch IPS, is from Haryana.

DIG Omvir Singh Bishnoi has been promoted to IG in the AGMUT cadre. His transfer orders have arrived but he is yet to be relieved. DIG Purohit has joined the Chandigarh police. He was assigned the charge of IG (Prisons), the portfolio which was earlier with Omvir Singh Bishnoi.

“There are a few technicalities in the structure of Chandigarh police. At least four IPS posts including of IG, DIG, SP (Chandigarh) and SP (security/traffic) are for AGMUT cadre. IPS officers of Punjab and Haryana cadre came to deputation in AGMUT cadre and further they joined Chandigarh police. IPS officers of Punjab and Haryana cadre had started coming to Chandigarh when terrorism in Punjab was on peak. Since then IPS from these two states coming to Chandigarh. But originally, the posts belong to AGMUT cadre”, a senior IPS officer of AGMUT cadre looking after the service matter in Chandigarh said.

Punjab reorganisation Act

“As per the Punjab Reorganization Act, there is a provision of 80:20, where 80 per cent of the total vacant posts of DSPs will be fulfilled by promotions and 20 per cent vacant seats will be fulfilled through the deputation from Punjab and Haryana. In January 2021, a new policy was issued by the government of India changing the ratio to 70:30 reducing the promotion quota 10 per cent and increasing the deputation quota by 10 per cent. It was mentioned in the policy that primarily officers on deputation will only be brought from Punjab and Haryana but officers from Delhi still come to Chandigarh”, Advocate Rohit Seth, who represents many UT police officers in the service matter in the CAT, said.

At least 24 DSPs are posted in Chandigarh. Exactly 18 belong to the Chandigarh police cadre while six belong to the Delhi Andaman Nicobar Indian Police Service (DANIPS) cadre including two, Deepak Yadav and Rashmi Yadav Sharma, who have been posted in Chandigarh since 2014. Six others DANIPS cadre officers including Pawan Kumar, Satish Kumar, Anjitha Chipyala, Sukhraj Katewa, Krishan Kumar and Rajeev Kumar Ambasta were transferred to Delhi in 2018. The transfers order had come when the matter of their long staying in Chandigarh on deputation, which was merely for three years, was reached to Punjab and Haryana high court. The UT police personnel had taken up this matter in the high court.

Meanwhile, six DSPs out of the 18 DSPs, who are currently in Chandigarh, were given an ad-hoc basis (given the rank but not financial benefits). Despite the clear orders of the MHA that DSPs from Punjab and Haryana will be only brought on deputation primarily, the Chandigarh police force is yet to see a single DSP on deputation from the two states.

“Indeed, five Chandigarg police inspectors were promoted with the efforts of DGP Praveer Ranjan, who had recommended their names for the promotion. But many concerns related to UT police personnel yet to clear,” an inspector rank officer said.

Issues with the UT Police

“There are so many issues with the Chandigarh police. First, it does not have its own cadre. Second, it has a limited scope of promotions. Rare and exceptional are the cases when a DSP of Chandigarh police was promoted to the rank of Superintendent of Police (SP). Otherwise, DSP rank is considered to be the highest promotion in Chandigarh police. Third, there is no scope of a transfer out of the city”, a Chandigarh police officer said.

In November 2020, CAT had ordered the UT administration to consider DSP Ram Gopal for promotion to the rank of SP. Delivering the order, CAT quashed the submission of the administration which argued that there was no vacancy in the rank of SP (non-IPS) in Chandigarh.

The administration was given two months’ time to implement the order. Ironically, within one month, it filed a petition in the Punjab and Haryana high court challenging the decision of CAT. The matter is still pending in the high court. Meanwhile, the police sub-divisions of the UT police have been increased from three to six along with the formation of two new traffic police sub-divisions in the last one and half years.

SP (headquarters) Manoj Kumar Meena said, “Recently three UT police DSPs submitted a representation seeking the date of their retirement of 60-years which is being followed in the central government. There are voices in UT police about to bring them under the central services pay scale. The matter is under consideration.” DSP Dilsher Singh Chandel, DSP Gurmukh Singh and one another is about to retire in coming months.