Punjab is expected to take a significant step towards appointing its full-time Director General of Police (DGP) on Tuesday, with the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) convening a key meeting to prepare the final panel of officers eligible for the state’s top police post.
The commission is likely to recommend a three-member panel from the list of senior IPS officers forwarded by the Punjab government. Once the recommendations are received, the state government will select one of the shortlisted officers as the permanent DGP in accordance with the prescribed procedure.
The appointment assumes significance as Punjab has been functioning under an acting police chief for nearly four years. Gaurav Yadav, a 1992-batch IPS officer, has been serving as officiating DGP since July 2022. The process to appoint a regular police chief gathered momentum after directions requiring states to follow the UPSC-led selection mechanism.
Earlier this year, the Punjab government submitted the names of 14 senior IPS officers after the UPSC sought the list of eligible candidates for the post. Officials said the commission will examine the service records, seniority and eligibility of the officers before finalising three names for consideration by the state government.
Among those whose names have been forwarded are 1992-batch officers Dr Sharad Satya Chauhan, Harpreet Singh Sidhu, Gaurav Yadav and Kuldeep Singh. The list also includes 1993-batch officers Gurpreet Kaur Deo, Jitendra Kumar Jain and Shashi Prabha Dwivedi, along with seven 1994-batch officers: Sudhanshu Shekhar Srivastava, Praveen Kumar Sinha, Amardeep Singh Rai, V. Neeraja, Anita Punj, Naresh Kumar and Ram Singh.
Sources familiar with the process said that if seniority remains a key criterion, Dr Sharad Satya Chauhan, Harpreet Singh Sidhu and Gaurav Yadav could feature among the three names recommended by the commission. In that scenario, the Punjab government would have the option of appointing Gaurav Yadav as the state’s permanent police chief.
Officials also indicated that 1989-batch IPS officer Samant Goel is not under consideration after expressing his unwillingness to take up the post, while Arpit Shukla and Ishwar Singh are also unlikely to be in the race as they are nearing retirement.
Under the prescribed procedure, the UPSC-led selection committee comprises the UPSC Chairperson, the Union Home Secretary or a nominee, the Punjab Chief Secretary, the serving DGP and the head of a Central Police Organisation from outside the Punjab cadre. After evaluating the eligible officers, the committee recommends a panel of three names, leaving the final appointment to the state government.
The outcome of Tuesday’s meeting is expected to pave the way for Punjab’s long-pending appointment of a permanent DGP, ending months of uncertainty over the state’s next police chief.