Passing the Punjab Police (Amendment) Bill, 2023, the state Vidhan Sabha on Tuesday paved way for the State to appoint Director General of Police (DGP) by setting up a parallel mechanism to circumvent the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) procedure, laid down by the Supreme Court.

As per the existing practice, the states send the name of all eligible IPS officers to the UPSC, which then selects three officers, from which the State Government chooses one as the state police chief. Now, the House has amended the Punjab Police Act, 2007; substituting a provision while laying down the procedure for selection of the head of the police force in the state.

Under the Punjab Police (Amendment) Bill, 2023, a panel of three IPS officers would be constituted by a seven-member committee with a retired Chief Justice or a retired Judge from the Punjab and Haryana High Court as its chairperson.

The other members would be the state’s Chief Secretary, a nominee of the UPSC, a nominee of Punjab Public Service Commission, Administrative Secretary of Home Department, a nominee of Union Ministry of Home Affairs, and a retired DGP of Punjab Police.

As per the new Act, the committee shall prepare a panel of three senior officers from the pool of eligible names based on the selection criteria, which would include the length of service, work record, and range of experience. “Selection will be made on merit from a pool of eligible officers as per zone of consideration,” the Bill read.

The DGP appointed following the amendments will have a minimum tenure of two years, “irrespective of his date of superannuation”, while also laying down the provisions of relieving the DGP before completion of his period.

In case of vacancy for the post of DGP, the State Government may give the additional charge to any officer of an equivalent rank. “The provisions of this section shall prevail notwithstanding anything contained in any judgement, order or decree of any court,” it stated.

The move assumes significance as the AAP Government has not sent any panel of the eligible IPS officers to the UPSC for appointing the state police chief. As of now, Gaurav Yadav has been continuing as the acting DGP for 11 months now, after replacing Viresh Kumar Bhawra, who was appointed the state police chief as per the UPSC procedure during the Charanjit Singh Channi-led Congress Government.

Giving the objective and the reason for carrying out the amendment in the 2007 Act, the Bill said, “’Public order’ and ‘police’ appear in the ‘State List’ under the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution of India 1950; and, are, thus, matters falling in the exclusive domain of States…The Constitutional framework envisions a ‘federal structure’ — wherein the states are exclusively empowered, through its legislature, to enact laws concerning ‘public order’ and ‘police’.”

“It is necessary to put in place a proper mechanism for selection/appointment and removal of DGP which takes into consideration the peculiar challenges faced by the states of Punjab by virtue of being a border state. In order to achieve this objective it is proposed to amend Section 6 of the Punjab Police Act, 2007,” the Bill reads.

The Bill, tabled by the Chief Minister and Home Minister Bhagwant Mann, was passed without any opposition and any discussion. While the main opposition Congress had staged a walk out earlier, the BJP had boycotted the two-day special session.

Powers of Chancellors of State-Run Varsities to be Vested with CM Now

Punjab Vidhan Sabha on Tuesday unanimously passed the Punjab University Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2023, thereby vesting the powers of Chancellors of state-run Universities with the Chief Minister.

Summarizing the debate on the floor of the House, the Chief Minister said that the State has its own rich culture, traditions and heritage which need to be perpetuated amongst the younger generations. “For this, the educational institutions, especially the Universities, can play a pivotal role,” said Mann recalling how the universities of the State have produced great intellectuals, artists and other eminent people in various fields.

He said that to carry forward this legacy, men of high integrity, prudence and repute need to be appointed in the universities of the state as Vice-Chancellors. “However, the Governor, who is not from the State and is not aware of its history and culture, creates unnecessary hurdles in it. It is surprising that the Governor knows nothing about the State but is empowered to appoint the VCs which is totally unfair,” he added.

Contrary to securing the state’s interests, the Punjab Governor is often seen on the other side, alleged Mann.

Citing the issue of Panjab University, he said that instead of safeguarding the interests of Punjab and Punjabis, the Governor had been taking the stance in favour of Haryana to allow its entry in the senate of university. “This is a very strange situation as the Governor, just to appease his political masters sitting in Delhi, is doing all these gimmicks,” he said.

Mann said that on lines of the bill already passed by West Bengal, the Punjab Government has formulated this bill which will entrust the powers of chancellor of the Universities with the Chief Minister. “With the formation of this Act, the Chief Minister, and not the Governor, will be the chancellor of the universities of the state,” he said, adding that “no interference of the Governor is required in the day-to-day functioning of the affairs of the state”.

Congress MLAs Walk Out, Boycott Special Session

Congress MLAs, at the onset of the second day of the two-day special session, on Tuesday staged a walkout and boycott the session. They walked out of the House after the Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan turned down the Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa’s demand to table the Action Taken Report on the BJP’s alleged ‘Operation Lotus’.

The action taken report was not supposed to be tabled in the House as the matter would go to the Court, said Sandhwan.