Punjab government’s Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC) today recommended several officers of the 1982 IPS batch for promotion to ADGP. They include IG (Provisioning) Sanjeev Gupta, Director (Vigilance Bureau) S.S. Saini, IG (Intelligence), Suresh Arora and recently reinstated IG, Rajinder Singh. With the promotion of 1982 batch, there will be a total of 13 ADGPs and five incumbent DGPs in the state.

Rajinder Singh had been suspended for almost two years after the SAD-BJP came into power, but was not served a chargesheet. He recently withdrew a petition to the Punjab and Haryana High Court, contesting Saini’s candidacy for promotion, where he argued that their batch was due for promotion last year. Saini, Arora and Gupta are expected to be promoted immediately, while Rajinder Singh will join their ranks in April after DGP (Prisons) Izhar Alam retires on March 31.

Despite being considered for Central deputation, Punjab DGP N.P.S. Aulakh is likely to remain in his current position for the immediate future, as no officer was found suitable for promotion to DGP by the DPC.

Sources said the state government had recently submitted Aulakh’s name to the MHA as a candidate for Central deputation, but officers of the 1975 and 1977 IPS batches - ADGPs Anil Kaushik, S.Kant, JP Birdi, Chander Shekhar and Jyoti Trehan - were not considered suitable replacements for his post. An official confided that their annual confidential reports (ACRs) were incomplete, and, in some cases, were not sent to the committee at all. Other required documents were also not submitted. “If the state government had wanted to,” a senior officer said, “they could have promoted them regardless. In many cases, ACRs are called on after officers are promoted. Essentially, the government has managed to dodge the issue for the time-being.’’

The DPC for promoting officers from ADGP to DGP might be held anytime again soon, said sources.

Sources indicate that the promotion process takes at least two months and general elections could pose a problem. Once the code of conduct comes into effect, DGPs cannot be shifted. In addition, Aulakh falls nearly six months short of the two years’ service required for Central deputation.

The six officers of the 1993 IPS batch — RN Dhoke (SSP Ropar), SK Asthana (SSP Patiala), Sashi Prabha (SSP Nawanshahr), Kartar Singh (Commandant), PS Grewal (Commandant) and Aprit Shukla (SP, CID, Chandigarh), have been recommended for staggered promotion to DIGs when vacancies become available.