Chandigarh, January 30,2018 : In a temporary breather, the Punjab and Haryana high court (HC) on Tuesday stayed the transfer orders of eight DANIPS cadre DSPs back to Delhi, till February 5.
The HC was hearing the petition of Chandigarh administration demanding stay on the relieving orders of these deputy superintendents of police (DSPs) arguing that it would lead to law and order situation in the city.
The matter was listed for urgent hearing on Tuesday before the HC bench. “If all Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands Police Services (DANIPS) officers are repatriated instantly, it will have grave and serious effect on the overall law enforcement in the city, and such consequences will not be in the larger interest of the administration as well as the citizens,” the UT had argued stating city will lose eight of the existing 17 DSPs. POWER STRUGGLE THAT BEGAN IN 2013 The genesis of the issue dates back to 2013 when the city got its first DSP on deputation, which was introduced to break the monopoly of the UT-cadre cops. Prior to 2013, the UT cadre police personnel were promoted up to DSPs’ posts.
The posts from superintendent of police (SP) to deputy inspector general (DIG) are filled through the deputation IPS-rank officers from Punjab and Haryana while the post of the IG or DGP has always been filled up by an officer of the Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram and Union Territories (AGMUT) cadre.
The officers of the DANIPS cadre are considered to be more powerful, which prompted three inspectors — Gurmukh Singh, Charanjit Singh and Dilsher Singh — to move Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) seeking promotions, stating that they have been deprived of promotions to DSP level even as they had fulfilled the eligibility criteria.
They had argued that Punjab Police rules provide for 80% seats to be filled amongst the promotees while rest 20% are filled through direct recruitments.
These transfers would have opened avenues for their promotions.
CHANDIGARH POLICE POLICY AWAITED
The UT is yet to notify a policy for the Chandigarh Police that is expected to settle all such disputes. Chandigarh administrator VP Singh Badnore had in 2016 given an in-principle approval to the Chandigarh Police Service Rules which aimed to strengthen the role and number of Chandigarh-cadre officers.
The seniority dispute is pending before the CAT too where hearing will now take place on February 16 in view of the HC order.( Courtesy Hindustan Times )