In Ludhiana, it’s musical chairs for the post of city police chief
LUDHIANA : The 31-day tenure of Naunihal Singh as Ludhiana police commissioner was not really an aberration as the city has witnessed as many as 18 transfers of the top cop since the commissionerate system was introduced in 2010.
It translates into an average tenure of a little over a year for each incumbent with some, like Naunihal, lasting barely for a few weeks.
Naunihal was shifted out within three days of change in the state top leadership following the resignation of Captain Amarinder Singh as chief minister on September 18.
With new police commissioner Gurpreet Singh Bhullar taking charge on Wednesday, the stint of Naunihal, who assumed office only on August 21, as the city’s senior-most cop will go down as one of the shortest.
For now, RK Jaiswal holds the record of serving as commissioner for just 23 days in May 2014. Naunihal’s tenure of 31 days has now become the second shortest. The third shortest is of Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh who was transferred after just 38 days of assuming charge.
Such transfers — overtly and
IT TRANSLATES INTO AN AVERAGE TENURE OF A LITTLE OVER A YEAR FOR EACH INCUMBENT
covertly influenced by political considerations — are against the law. Section 15 of the Punjab Police Act says an officer of the rank of station house officer (SHO) and above shall have an assured tenure of one year, extendable up to three years. It can be cut short only in case of promotion, conviction, suspension, or if the officer is suffering from a grave illness, it adds.
In 2014 alone, Ludhiana witnessed appointment of five police commissioners. As of now, Rakesh Kumar Agrawal is the only officer who managed to
complete two years, the longest so far.
Soon after his joining last month, Naunihal had prepared a roadmap for “improving” law and order in the city which included jurisdiction reorganisation of police stations, police posts and departmental offices. A detailed plan for managing traffic in the city was also chalked out. While he adopted the unconventional measure by summoning the force for patrolling at odd hours, the plans may either get a fresh push or are likely to go down the drain.
The officer had also held meetings with industrialists twice. “It is a total wastage of resources and time as officers get changed so fast. Such frequent changes at senior level disrupt the functioning of the police force,” said Badish Jindal, president, Federation of Punjab Small Industries Association.