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Punjab sends panel of 14 IPS officers to UPSC for appointment of regular DGP
PTI | April 7, 2026 3:11 AM CST

Chandigarh, Apr 6 (PTI): The Punjab government is learnt to have sent a panel of 14 senior IPS officers to the Union Public Service Commission for shortlisting three candidates for the post of regular Director General of Police in the state, sources said on Monday.

At present, IPS officer Gaurav Yadav is the acting DGP (head of the state police force).

In the list sent to the UPSC, senior IPS officers having the rank of DGP figured in it.

The list comprised names of 1992-batch IPS officer Gaurav Yadav, Special DGP Sharad Satya Chauhan (Punjab Vigilance Chief), Special DGP (Anti-Narcotics Task Force) Kuldeep Singh and senior IPS officer Harpreet Singh Sidhu (awaiting posting), said sources.

Apart from it, Special DGP (Community Affairs & Women Affairs) Gurpreet Kaur Deo, Special DGP (Punjab State Power Corporation) Jitendra Kumar Jain, Special DGP (Railway) Shashi Prabha Dwivedi, Special DGP (Headquarters) Sudhanshi Shekhar Srivastava, Special DGP P K Sinha, Special DGP (Traffic and Road Safety) Amardeep Singh Rai, Special DGP (Cyber Crime) V Neeraja, among others, also figured in the list, said sources.

Last month, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had said that his government would send a panel of officers for the selection of a regular DGP.

Earlier, Punjab had been reluctant to send a panel for a regular DGP appointment, despite reminders by the UPSC to send a panel of officers for the selection of a regular DGP.

In February, the Supreme Court had pulled up some states, including Punjab, for having acting DGPs.

The Punjab government had passed the Punjab Police (Amendment) Bill in 2023, which empowers the state to appoint the DGP through a separate state-level committee. However, this bill is yet to be given assent by the President.

The AAP government had appointed Gaurav Yadav as officiating DGP in July 2022 after the state police head V K Bhawra was sent on leave.

As per the process, after a state sends a list of offices for appointing a regular DGP, the UPSC empanelled committee sends back a panel of three officers for shortlisting one among them as the state police chief.

Earlier in the day, the Punjab government appointed 1992-batch IPS officer Sharad Satya Chauhan as the state's Special DGP-cum-Chief Director, Vigilance Bureau. PTI CHS VSD HIG HIG

(This story is published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. No editing has been done in the headline or the body by ABP Live.)


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