Merger of DSP cadre with other UTs put on hold - Hindustan Times
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Merger of DSP cadre with other UTs put on hold

Hindustan Times, Chandigarh | ByHT Correspondent
Oct 18, 2018 09:40 AM IST

The move came after the notification could not find much favour with the Chandigarh Police officers, who have challenged it in the Central Administrative Tribunal.

Succumbing to political pressure, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government at the Centre has put on hold its notification of merging posts of deputy superintendent of police (DSP) in Chandigarh Police with the DANIPS (Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli Police Service) cadre.

(HT File)
(HT File)

In its fresh communication on Wednesday, the Union ministry of home affairs (MHA) stated: “The notification of MHA dated 25.09.2018 merging the posts of DSPs of Chandigarh Police with DANIPS has been kept in abeyance till further orders”. It means Chandigarh-cadre DSPs will not be transferred outside the city.

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The development comes after the central government received representations from its alliance partner Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) as well as the Congress-led Punjab government.

Chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh and his predecessor and Akali patron Parkash Singh Badal had met Prime Minister Narender Modi and home affairs minister Rajnath Singh, respectively, and stated that Chandigarh is a disputed territory. The merger will dilute Punjab’s stake on Chandigarh and could lead to similar attempts to merge civil posts as well, they had stated.

The notification

With the September 25 notification, the DSPs working in Chandigarh had come under the DANIPS cadre, which effectively meant that they could be transferred out of Chandigarh to other union territories in India — Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Daman and Diu, Lakshadweep and Dadar and Nagar Haveli.

No post was allotted to Punjab and Haryana. The notification brought down the share of Chandigarh DSPs to half (from 17 to nine). The move was prompted by disputes between local officials and instances of insubordination.

Union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Punjab cabinet minister Navjot Singh Sidhu too had written letters to the central leadership asking them to withdraw the new notification, which they called gross violation of the Punjab Reorganisation Act 1966 and the Rajiv-Longowal Accord. The Aam Aadmi Party had also protested against the MHA decision.

Current scenario

The post of director general of police (DGP) and deputy inspector general (DIG) of police are filled from AGMUT (Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram and Union Territories) cadre. The post of senior superintendent of police (SSP) is filled from Punjab cadre and SSP (traffic) from Haryana.

There are 23 sanctioned posts of DSPs in Chandigarh: 11 from Chandigarh Police Service and 10 from DANIPS.

The claim of Haryana and Punjab of following 60:40 ratio remain on papers only. In the past decade, Punjab and Haryana have not sent officers for this post, barring 2013, when Punjab had sent four. Currently, no DSP-rank officer is on deputation from the two states.

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