Terming the row between the HS and the IGP as a personality clash, former Punjab chief secretary A.S. Chatha says the issue should be nipped in the bud. "There is no scope for confusion about the powers and the authority or its misuse since the administrative law is well-codified in India. It calls for intervention at a senior level so that the issues are resolved before they start affecting the functioning."

Chatha feels that while direct interference by the Home Department in the functioning of the police is unwarranted, turning to a force in uniform for support on the lines of the trade unions is equally undesirable. P.C. Dogra, who recently retired as Punjab DGP, however, doesn't see it as a personality clash. "The issue here is who has the right to exercise the powers."

Dogra supports Bedi on the issue of interference in police functioning by the Home Department. Says he: "The order to the police should have been routed through the IGP or her comments should have been taken. After all, it is the IGP who is accountable for police functioning and not the Home Secretary." Dogra thinks the laws governing the police are outdated and there is need for reforms. "The Police Act of 1861 should be changed with the draft Police Act as recommended by the National Police Commission headed by ICS Dharam Vira in 1980," he says.

"It is difficult to say who is right and who is wrong since all the facts of the case are not known," says former Punjab chief secretary P.H. Vaishnav. "The officers' objective should be to make the best effort and achieve a good combination of autonomy and accountability." Vaishnav doesn't endorse the means employed by Bedi, though. "Even if the IGP was right, the move to collect signatures of police officers was improper. She should have waited for the response of the higher authorities. Going to the press was uncalled for. In the past, it was frowned upon."

Retired CBI director and former Punjab IGP H.S. Bawa agrees with Vaishnav: "There was no need to go public. While the IGP's position as head of the police force ought to be recognised and should not be by-passed, it must be realised that the general control and superintending power over the police lies with the administration." He adds: "Administration has the right to lay down the general policy, but such orders must be passed only in extreme cases." Bawa doesn't think that signing of a memorandum by the police officers amounted to a rebellion. "In fact, the IGP is senior enough to seek a probe, without anyone else supporting her petition."

It is the `intemperate' language used which retired ICS officer and Haryana's first chief secretary Saroop Krishen disapproves. "It is an internal matter of the administration and differences must have been sorted out at the highest level. It must be understood that the IGP is the head of police department, the HS is the head of police administration."

Former IGP of greater Punjab and one of the few surviving Indian Police (IP) officers in the city, Gurdial Singh, says during the British rule and in the early years of Independence, such incidents never occurred and there was no tussle between the administration and the police. "There was no question of any interference either, as the HS had nothing to do with the postings of police officers".