Congress-led Punjab Government on Tuesday lashed out at the BJP-led Central Government’s recent notification regarding Chandigarh UT cadre allocation bringing various posts of Chandigarh Administration under the DANIPS (Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands Police Service) cadre.

As the Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh is set to raise the issue with the Prime Minister on Thursday, his Cabinet Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu has shot off a communiqué the Union Home Minister while describing the move as “against the spirit of the Punjab Reorganization Act, 1966”.

Capt Amarinder, on the sidelines of an event at Mohali, said that his Government was not in agreement with the Union Government on the notification regarding Chandigarh UT cadre allocation.

“I had already written to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting him to reconsider the notification. I would again take up the issue with him during our meeting in Delhi on Thursday,” he said.

Capt Amarinder said that the 60:40 ratio, as decided upon in 1966 at the time of division of Punjab and Haryana, must not be disturbed.

The Union Ministry of Home Affairs, through a notification issued on September 25, has brought various posts of Chandigarh Administration, including the post of Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), within the ambit of DANIPS cadre.

Opposing the move, Sidhu wrote in the letter, “I am conveying to you my deep sense of anguish...over some recent developments, which affect the state of Punjab deeply and therefore, concerns me not only as a Minister in the Cabinet serving the state but also as a Punjabi.”

“This would mean that police officers working in Chandigarh (under the Chandigarh Police cadre) can be transferred to Delhi and Andaman and Nicobar Islands...This notification shakes the very foundation and purpose of the Punjab Reorganization Act and the Rajiv-Longowal Accord,” Sidhu said.

He pointed that by way of Punjab Reorganization Act, 1966, the erstwhile state of Punjab was bifurcated by way of formation of new state, namely Haryana, and also the Union Territory to be known as Union Territory of Chandigarh.

“The aforesaid Reorganization Act also envisaged that from the said appointed date, which was to be first day of November, 1966, all assets and liabilities were to be bifurcated between Punjab and Haryana in the ratio of 60:40,” pointed Sidhu.

He said that this ratio has been consistently followed, even for the purpose of allocating officers for the Union Territory of Chandigarh from the states of Punjab and Haryana.

The 60:40 rule, in respect of various cadres of officers allocated to Union Territory of Chandigarh while enacting reorganization of these states vis-à-vis the Union Territory, has become a binding convention and is being followed religiously since then, Sidhu said.

Urging the Home Minister to reconsider the notification, Sidhu said that there was genuine apprehension among Punjabis that by enacting more notifications like this one, all the cadres would be taken away from the Punjabi officers and as such, their legitimate expectations would be frustrated.

“By way of the said notification, the legitimate and existing binding convention of 60:40 has been unjustifiably taken away from the people of Punjab,” he added.

Sidhu also utilised the opportunity to raise the issue of Chandigarh being Punjab’s capital. “It was in principal decided that the Union Territory of Chandigarh would form and be the capital of the state of Punjab and it was only given the status of Union Territory till such time, the newly constituted state of Haryana forms its own capital. This understanding attained the written mandate by way of Rajiv-Longowal Accord signed in 1985, according to which, the Union Territory of Chandigarh was to be transferred to Punjab on 26th day of January 1986,” he pointed.

He added, “However, to the utmost dismay and disappointment of the Punjabis, it could not be done and the Union Territory continues to be the joint capital of the states of Punjab and Haryana.”

Coming down heavily on the SAD over the Central notification issue, Cabinet Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa said that the alliance partner in the BJP-led Central Government owe an explanation to the people of Punjab on the issue of grave sensitivity.

Randhawa, launching a scathing attack on SAD as well as the BJP’s Central and State leadership, said that it was decided that Punjab's share in the postings of officers in Chandigarh would be 60 percent and now that is being tinkered with by the Union Government and what is turning the situation into a more perplexed one is the stony silence being maintained by the SAD and its partner in arms the BJP.

Taking the attack right into the SAD ranks, the Congress leader said that this is not the only case of blatant and naked discrimination against Punjab but a devious game-plan is also underway to diminish the status of Punjabi language in Chandigarh courtesy slow poison mode.