CHANDIGARH: The AAP government in Punjab has been violating the Punjab Police Act, 2007, by not ensuring field police officers, including district police chiefs, a minimum assured tenure of one year despite the state government facing a contempt of court case on this issue in the Punjab and Haryana high court.
Seven districts of Punjab have seen at least three SSPs each under the AAP government since March last year. These include Ferozepur, Malerkotla, Faridkot, Muktsar, Gurdaspur, Patiala and Ludhiana Rural. Two SSPs each in at least 11 districts have been transferred in less than one year after Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann, who also heads the home department, took oath on March 16, 2022. These districts are Jalandhar Rural, Amritsar Rural, Mohali, Ropar, Moga, Mansa, Sangrur, Fazilka, Tarn Taran, Bathinda and Batala.
At a time when the state government is struggling to maintain law and order, atleast nine of these district police chiefs were not allowed to even complete four months of their posting. Section 15 of the Punjab Police Act, 2017 mandates a minimum tenure of one year extendable to a maximum period of three years for IG of a police zone, DIG of a police range, SSP, SP, ASP, DSP and SHO of a police station. Interestingly, the state police had carried out an amendment in this Act after giving an undertaking before the high court in May 2013 during a contempt of court petition filed by advocate HC Arora.
The Act further mentions that the police officer may be removed or transferred by the competent authority from his post before the expiry of a minimum one year tenure, if he or she is promoted to a higher post or convicted or against whom charges have been framed by a court of law or suspended from service or incapacitated by physical or mental illness or become unable to discharge his duties or if there is a need to fill up the vacancy caused by promotion, transfer or retirement. “In exceptional cases, an officer may be transferred from his post by the competent authority before the expiry of his tenure for inefficiency or negligence or non-performance or where a prima facie case of a serious nature is found against him on the basis of preliminary enquiry,” reads the Act.
