Patiala: Transferred, SP (Jails) withdraws resignation hours after quitting

Tribune News Service

Patiala, September 1

A senior officer of the Prisons Department, who resigned on Saturday by depositing his salary for three months to avoid serving the notice period, withdrew his resignation on Sunday.

The resignation had raised many eyebrows over the working conditions in the Prisons Department, which faces an acute shortage of officers to manage the Central jails in the state.

On Saturday, the department had shifted 33 officers. Manjit Singh Sidhu, Jail Superintendent, Central Jail Patiala, was transferred to Bathinda, where he had already served twice.

“Maximum gangsters are lodged in the Bathinda jail. Security agencies always keep a hawk eye on every activity. This is a very high pressure job. Managing jails is getting tougher due to minimal support from the government,” said a jail official. Other than Sidhu, there’s just one other Jail Superintendent in the department.

Sources said Sidhu, scheduled to be promoted as DIG (Prisons), called his seniors in Chandigarh on Saturday and made them aware about the tough working conditions in jails. However, within 24 hours he told his seniors that he was withdrawing his resignation.

With officers in the department getting dismissed, suspended, demoted and facing probes, shortage of manpower has often resulted in “poor supervision”.

“In the past one decade, all efforts to depute IPS and PPS cadre officers in the Prisons Department on deputation have received a lukewarm response. No one wants to serve in the jails, where the criminals call the shots and suspensions are a routine affair,” he told The Tribune.

Facing shortage of officers, the Congress government in 2020 had ordered appointment of Border Security Force (BSF) officers as Jail Superintendents in the Central jails.

IG (Prisons) Roop Kumar Arora confirmed that Sidhu’s resignation was received and that he had deposited three-month salary against the notice period. “He had cited domestic issues as a reason for his resignation,” he said. “The BSF officers are going back after completing three-year probation. As gangsters are lodged in Bathinda jail and separate high-risk zones are being created, we need a competent officer with prior experience. Since Sidhu had already served at this jail, we posted him there.”

Confirming that Sidhu has withdrawn his resignation, Arora said, “Sidhu’s family persuaded him to continue in service. Thus, he has requested that his resignation be considered withdrawn.”

The IG (Prisons) said, “There are 11 posts of Jail Superintendent. There is acute shortage of officers at this level. With only two SP Jails available with the department, we need to depute junior officers.”