Chandigarh, Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu has opposed a move by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to bring various posts of Chandigarh Administration under the DANIPS (Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands Police Service) cadre saying that the move is against the spirit of the Punjab Reorganization Act 1966.
In a letter to Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday, Sidhu said: “I am conveying to you my deep sense of anguish… over some recent developments, which affect the state of Punjab deeply and therefore, concerns me not only as a minister in the cabinet serving the state but also as a Punjabi.”
Sidhu had pointedly opposed a notification by the MHA issued on September 25 under which the Union government has brought various posts of Chandigarh Administration, including the post of Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), within the ambit of DANIPS cadre.
This would mean that police officers working in Chandigarh (under the Chandigarh Police cadre) can be transferred to Delhi and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
“This notification shakes the very foundation and purpose of the Punjab Reorganization Act and the Rajiv-Longowal Accord,” Sidhu said.
By way of the Punjab Reorganization Act, 1966, the erstwhile state of Punjab was bifurcated by way of formation of new state namely Haryana and also the Union Territory to be known as Union Territory of Chandigarh, Sidhu said.
“The aforesaid Reorganization Act also envisaged that from the said appointed date, which was to be 1st Day of November, 1966, all assets and liabilities were to be bifurcated between Punjab and Haryana in the ratio of 60:40,” Sidhu said.
“This ratio has been consistently followed… even for the purpose of allocating officers for the Union Territory of Chandigarh from the states of Punjab and Haryana,” Sidhu said in his communication.
The 60:40 rule, in respect of various cadres of officers allocated to Union Territory of Chandigarh while enacting reorganization of these states vis-a-vis the Union Territory, has become a binding convention and is being followed religiously since then, Sidhu said.
Urging the Home Minister to reconsider the notification, Sidhu said there was genuine apprehension among Punjabis that by enacting more notifications like this one, all the cadres would be taken away from the Punjabi officers and as such, their legitimate expectations would be frustrated.
“By way of the said notification, the legitimate and existing binding convention of 60:40 has been unjustifiably taken away from the people of Punjab,” he added.
