The Punjab government on Friday appointed 1992-batch IPS officer Gaurav Yadav as the regular Director General of Police (DGP), ending the prolonged uncertainty over the appointment to the state’s top police post.
The government issued the orders on Friday morning. The order, issued by the Department of Home Affairs, said Yadav would hold charge for at least two years. He has been the acting DGP of Punjab Police since May 2022.
The decision comes days after the Punjab and Haryana high court questioned the delay in appointing a regular DGP despite the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) forwarding a panel of three eligible officers in July.
Hearing a public interest litigation seeking the appointment of a regular police chief, a bench of justices Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Rohit Kapoor observed that the DGP’s post was crucial to maintaining law and order and that an ad hoc arrangement “ought not be allowed for an indefinite period”.
The court directed the state to take an appropriate decision and have the chief secretary file an affidavit before the next hearing, scheduled for October 13.
The panel forwarded by UPSC comprised Yadav, chief director of the Vigilance Bureau Sharad Satya Chauhan and special DGP Harpreet Singh. All three are from the 1992 batch. Chauhan was the senior-most officer on the panel. Harpreet Singh returned from central deputation and remained without a regular posting for about a year.
The state government told the court that the panel was under “active consideration”, while the petitioner’s counsel, Nikhil Thamman, pointed out that the UPSC had recommended the three officers in July.
The court questioned the government why it hadn’t acted despite receiving the panel months earlier.
The Supreme Court’s directions in the Prakash Singh case on police reforms govern the appointment process, which provides for the selection of a regular DGP from the UPSC-recommended panel and stipulates a minimum two-year tenure.
Yadav has overseen several of the state government’s flagship policing initiatives, including the anti-drug campaign Yudh Nasheyan Virudh and successive operations against gangsters under Operation Prahaar.