Officialdom ‘paralysed’ during Jat quota protest

CHANDIGARH: A probe panel appointed by the Haryana government to look into the police and administration’s handling of the Jat quota violence has said top functionaries

CHANDIGARH: A probe panel appointed by the Haryana government to look into the police and administration’s handling of the Jat quota violence has said top functionaries were “paralysed” and failed to show “guidance, control or direction”.

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The Prakash Singh panel — whose report was made public by the BJP government on Tuesday — said then DGP Yashpal Singal stayed put in Chandigarh as the violence raged while the state home department was a “washout”.

The week-long rioting in February left 30 dead and wreaked havoc across the state. Singh’s report comes at a time Jats are threatening to renew their stir from June 5, in the wake of the Punjab and Haryana high court staying the state’s move to give them 10% reservation in jobs and education. “A police chief is expected to lead from the front.

Singal, unfortunately, did not give that impression,” said the report, adding that the DGP did not even hold a video conference with SPs and visited affected areas only when the violence had ceased.

In an observation against past chief ministers, the report said they had eroded the authority of institutions in an attempt to concentrate powers in their office. “The office of the chief secretary does not command the power… it does in most states. The home department also plays a somewhat subsidiary role in matters of law and order. These distortions need to be corrected if we do not wish to see a similar administrative paralysis… in the future.”

Singh, a retired IPS officer, said there were procedural lapses such as the lack of a state control room and of daily situation reports (Sitrep).