Sidhu objects to Centre's move to include Chandigarh DSPs in DANIPS cadre

Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu Tuesday objected to a notification by the Centre that includes Chandigarh DSPs in DANIPS cadre, making them liable to be transferred to various other Union territories.

Sidhu wrote to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh urging him to reconsider the notification, arguing it would affect the agreed 60:40 ratio of officers from Punjab and Haryana in Chandigarh.

The notification "affects Punjab deeply and concerns me not only as a minister serving the state but also as a Punjabi", Sidhu wrote.

The Union Home Ministry's September 25 notification has included the post of deputy superintendent of police in Chandigarh in the DANIPS cadre, making the officers liable to be posted to other Union territories of Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Daman and Diu, Lakshadweep and Dadra and Nagar Haveli.

Punjab's ruling Congress saw the notification as an attempt to do away with the 60 per cent share of the state's officers in the Union Territory of Chandigarh.

Sidhu urged Home Minister Singh to reconsider the notification, saying it "unjustifiably" took away the legitimate and the existing binding convention of 60:40 from the people of Punjab.

"There is a genuine apprehension amongst the Punjabis that by enacting more notifications like the one, all the cadres would be taken away from Punjabi officers and as such, their legitimate expectations would be frustrated, Sidhu wrote.

Sidhu argued that the notification has shaken the very foundation and purpose of the Punjab Reorganization Act and the Rajiv Longowal Accord.

With effect from the date of the notification, all the posts mentioned in it would be outside the ambit of the states of Punjab and Haryana and would be filled up by the Government of India, Sidhu contended.

Referring to the provisions of the Punjab Reorganization Act, 1966, which created the states of Punjab and Haryana and the Union Territory of Chandigarh from November 1, 1966, Sidhu said it also provided for division of all assets and liabilities of the parent state between newly created states in the ratio of 60:40.

"This ratio has been consistently followed from the appointed date for over a period of 50 years, even for allocating officers for the Union Territory of Chandigarh from Punjab and Haryana, Sidhu wrote.

He added that as per the 1985 Rajiv-Longowal Accord, Chandigarh was to be transferred to Punjab in January 1986, but it continued to be the joint capital of Punjab and Haryana till date.

Another Punjab minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa too criticised the Centre's notification and said that BJP ally SAD owed an explanation to the people of Punjab on this issue of grave sensitivity.

Randhawa attacked Akalis for keeping mum and asked Union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal to resign in protest.