DGP appointment: Punjab concludes arguments, hearing to continue today

CHANDIGARH: The Punjab government, on Wednesday, concluded its arguments during a hearing into the petitions filed by it and Director General of Police (DGP) Dinkar Gupta challenging the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) order that had set aside the appointment of Gupta as head of state police. The hearing in the case would continue on Thursday.

The government has allayed fears of mala fide in appointment, the manner/procedure followed by the state for preparing a panel of eligible officers, and the criteria that the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) followed for objective assessment on the aspect of “range of experience” in the five core policing areas (intelligence, law and order, administration, investigation and security). It was as per the provisions laid down in the 2009 guidelines of the commission, approved by the Supreme Court and uniformly applied for all states since then, it added. It has also argued that there was no bar as to how many officers could be there in zone of consideration for appointment, as the only criterion was 30 years of experience.

A 1987-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, Gupta had superseded five senior officers to be named the state police chief on February 7, 2019. IPS officers Mohammad Mustafa and Siddharth Chattopadhyaya had challenged his appointment. While Mustafa is a 1985-batch officer and Chattopadhyaya of 1986 batch, Gupta is of the 1987-batch.

The UPSC submitted that all eligible officers are considered and state governments are mandatorily asked by the UPSC to forward the list of all eligible officers and their relevant documents.