UPSC sends 3-name panel for picking new Haryana DGP

Geetanjali Gayatri

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 12

The committee for the selection of new DGP of Haryana today sent back a panel of three IPS officers to the state government after a meeting at the Union Public Service Commission’s office in New Delhi. The selected names include PK Agrawal (1988 batch), Mohammad Akil and RC Mishra (both 1989 batch). The state government will now pick one officer from the panel to head the police force.

Sources said the UPSC went strictly by seniority. “When the UPSC drops a name or picks the name of an officer down the line while selecting the DGP, it often leads to litigation. To avoid that, the UPSC usually takes the ‘safer road’ and recommends names of the senior-most officers,” sources maintained.

However, in a last-minute twist, outgoing DGP Manoj Yadava could not attend the meeting for the constitution of the panel of officers because of a “faux pas” that listed him as one of the candidates for the post.

Sources in the police said there seemed a “deliberate design” in keeping the only police officer on the empanelment panel out of the meeting since there was no logical explanation on how the name of the DGP appeared on the list as a “candidate” when the vacancy was created because Yadava had expressed his desire to return to the IB.

Yadava had even written to the Union Public Service Commission to say he did not want his name to be considered since he had sought repatriation. However, on the ground that his name was on the list of candidates, he was kept out of the meeting held in Delhi today.