1,600 head constable promotions revoked

Varinder Singh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 27

The Punjab Police today revoked the promotions of its more than 1,600 personnel, made head constables "out of turn" in violation of the existing 10 per cent quota fixed under the rules.

The head constables are learnt to have been granted promotion from the post of constable during the consecutive terms of three Director Generals of Police (DGPs).

Highly placed sources in the Punjab Police said the promotions of these personnel had been revoked by DGP Sumedh Singh Saini following directions from the Punjab and Haryana High Court. A letter to this effect was formally been issued by the E-1 branch of the Punjab Police.

Under the Punjab Police Service Rules, the DGP is empowered to promote constables to head constables, but the rules stipulate that such promotions should not exceed a limit of 10 per cent. But in this case, the quota was stretched in a blatant manner over a period of time, said sources.

Earlier, even senior police officers like Deputy Inspector Generals were vested with powers to promote constables to the rank of head constables on the basis of their performance and merit. But, these powers were withdrawn about 10 years ago due to alleged "large-scale misuse" of the discretion by the officers.

Most of the 1,600 "out of turn" promotions were made in 2011-12 when the quota system was allegedly not largely adhered to by the police top brass, said sources.

After the revocation of the promotions, the Punjab Police would now come out with a fresh seniority list of constables and the promotions would be made strictly as per the quota norms, said sources.