M A I N   N E W S

13 SPs, 20 DSPs reverted
Prabhjot Singh
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 30
The Punjab Government has decided to withdraw the ORP rank given to 13 officers, at present working as Superintendent of Police, besides ordering reversion of 29 “Deputy Superintendents” to their substantive ranks, including Assistant Sub-Inspector and Sub-Inspector.

While a formal order of reversion of all 29 beneficiaries of the Own Rank and Pay order holding the rank of “Deputy Superintendent of Police” were issued this afternoon, orders in case of the “Superintendent of Police” followed late in the evening.

The action of the Punjab Government follows a direction of the Punjab and Haryana High Court on August 20 which said that “the ORP ranks from the ranks of Superintendent of Police to the rank of Inspector of Police be withdrawn forthwith”.

The worst hit by the order are a number of top sportsmen of the country, including two members of the Asian Games champion Indian hockey team — Ramandeep Singh Grewal and Baljit Singh Dhillon — besides Olympians Pargat Singh and Kuldip Singh and international star, Gurdeep Singh Pannu.

Both Ramandeep and Baljit were given the ORP rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police after the India team won the gold medal in the last Asian Games. Though according to rules, outstanding sportsmen and women are given ad hoc promotion on the basis of their “excellent performance in national and international sporting events”, none of them could be promoted under this category as the quota had been exhausted. Left with no option, they were given promotions under the ORP not by the Police Department, as has been the case in most of the remaining cases, but by the State Government.

Normally, giving a higher rank to a police officer is within the competence of the Police Department itself. According to informed sources, a decision to revert all 14 ORP “Superintendents of Police” to their substantive ranks was taken yesterday but a formal order by the Home Department was issued only late this evening.

The SPs reverted today are : Mr Kuldeep Singh, Mr Mohinder Singh, Mr Dilbagh Singh, Mr Jaskirat Singh, Mr Gurdeep Singh, Mr Gurnam Singh, Mr Babir Singh, Mr Gurmit Singh Chauhan, Mr Surinderjit Singh, Mr Pargat Singh Powar, Mr Kamaljit Singh, Mr Raghbir Singh and Mr Narinderpal Singh.

Mr Satish Malhotra , who has been working as Deputy Superintendent of Police (ORP), has now been ordered to be reverted as Assistant Sub-Inspector. The following DSPs have been reverted today (substantive ranks are given in the brackets) :

Mr Balwinder Pal (Inspector); Mr Rajinder Singh (Sub-Inspector), Mr Rajinder Singh (Dasuya)(Inspector), Mr Ajaib Singh (Sub-Inspector), Mr Baldev Singh (Inspector), Mr Satish Malhotra (Assistant Sub-Inspector), Mr Sant Singh (Sub-Inspector), Mr Rachpal Singh (Inspector), Mr Gurcharan Singh (Inspector), Mr Joginder Singh (Sub-Inspector), Mr Meharban Singh (Inspector), Mr Ravinder Singh (Sub-Inspector), Mr Jaspal Singh (Inspector), Mr Malook Singh (Inspector), Mr Suman Kumar (Inspector), M Dharampal Chabbra (Inspector), Mr Makhan Singh (Inspector), Mr Ramnadeep Singh (Inspector), Mr Mohinder Singh (Inspector), Mr Kashmir Singh (Inspector), Mr Baldev Singh (Sub-Inspector), Mr Baginde Rana (Inspector), M Ram Millan (Inspector), Mr Balit Singh (Inspector), Mr Surinde Singh Saini (Inspector), Mr Ajaib Singh (Inspector), Mr Harbhajan Singh (Inspector), Mr Gudial Ram (Inspector) and Mr Ashok Kumar (Inspector).

Status quo ordered

Issuing notice of motion for September 25, Mr Justice Amarbir Singh Gill and Mr Justice Swatanter Kumar of the High Court today ordered maintenance of the status quo regarding reversion on a petition filed by two Superintendents of the Punjab Police. The two —Gurmit Singh Chauhan and Surinderjit Singh Mand — had claimed in their petition that certain inspectors, promoted as DSPs on a temporary basis, had been confirmed and were being placed as seniors resulting in their reversion.

Claiming to have been directly recruited as DSPs, the petitioners had stated that the temporary promotions granted to the respondents had been treated as regular. Going into the background, their counsel had added that the petitioners were recruited as DSPs in 1994 while the inspectors were promoted on temporary basis between 1991 and 1993 even though they had not fulfilled the condition of six years’ experience.