M A I N   N E W S

Saini row: Badal govt ready with face-saver
Ruchika M Khanna
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 20
Caught on the back foot on the Congress demand to transfer state Director General of Police (DGP) Sumedh Singh Saini, the Punjab Government has quietly chalked a way out of the controversy.

The state government is reportedly concerned that once the model code of conduct comes into force, the Election Commission (EC) will recommend a DGP of its own choice, so it is going to ask Saini to proceed on leave.

State Home Department sources told The Tribune that a state government delegation was in Delhi to meet the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and apprise him of the complaint against Saini. However, in case the CEC does not agree with it, the state government is ready with a list of contenders for the DGP post till the time Saini will remain on leave.

The main contenders for the post are GD Panday, a 1981-batch IPS officer, and Punjab DGP-cum-Chief Director, Vigilance Bureau, Suresh Arora, who is a 1982-batch IPS officer. Sources said in terms of seniority, 1982-batch officer Sanjiv Gupta was also in the consideration zone, but if left to the state government, the incumbent to be selected to fill the post would either be Panday or Arora.

Panday is currently serving as the DGP-cum-Commandant General, Punjab Home Guards, and Director Civil Defence. Sanjiv Gupta is serving as the DGP (Security and Vigilance), PSPCL. Rajan Gupta, who is senior to all these three IPS officers, is posted as the Director General of Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD). He is a 1978-batch IPS officer.

The controversy involving the DGP arose after Punjab Pradesh Congress spokesperson Sukhpal Singh Khaira complained to the state Chief Electoral Officer seeking Saini’s removal on the grounds that he had been chargesheeted in a criminal case.

Khaira said a special CBI court in Delhi had chargesheeted Saini for kidnapping, abduction and disappearance of three innocent persons. The charges were framed against Saini in November 2006, after the Punjab and Haryana High Court transferred the investigation to the CBI.

Senior Congress leaders have already met the Chief Election Commissioner and sought Saini’s removal.

In its reply to the CEO, the Punjab Government had declined to remove Saini saying two elections had already been held successfully since his appointment as the DGP.

The state government also said it had examined all documents pertaining to the criminal cases in the Punjab and Haryana High Court and the Supreme Court wherein Saini’s appointment as the DGP had been challenged and then set aside.

May gone on leave

• The Congress has urged the CEC to order removal of Punjab DGP Sumedh Singh Saini claiming that he was chargesheeted by a CBI court in a kidnapping case
• Fearing that the Election Commission (EC) might recommend a DGP of its own choice, the state government may ask Saini to proceed on leave