The Union Home Ministry will soon initiate the process to include the Puducherry police into an amalgamated force, which would include senior ranks from Chandigarh and five other Union Territories including Delhi, according to a senior government official.
The move to include Puducherry in the force comes after the Centre last month notified the National Capital Territory of Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Chandigarh (Police Service) Rules, 2018.
The decision to include Chandigarh in the unified force has been opposed by both the Congress party government in Punjab and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), a member of the BJP-led ruling National Democratic Alliance at the Centre.
Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal of the SAD has written to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh urging the preservation of the status quo as regards the police force in Chandigarh. She also met Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week to seek his intervention on the issue.
While Chandigarh is a Union Territory, it is also the common capital of Punjab and Haryana States. Accordingly, until the latest notification, 60% police officers posted there were from Punjab and 40% were from Haryana.
There are about 533 posts in the six UTs (excluding Puducherry) that will be covered under the new rules that includes the posts of assistant commissioners of police and deputy superintendents of police.
These postings, which were till now decided by the respective UT administrators, will hereafter be at the disposal of the Centre.
A senior government official said the decision to merge the police forces was based on a 2012 report of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) detailing the “corruption and extortion nexus” of policemen posted in Chandigarh.
“This was to break the nexus of policemen posted for years in the same post,” the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said. “This encouraged corruption….the move also means that there will be better promotional opportunities. This decision was taken on the basis of an IB report.”
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had also shot off a letter to Mr. Singh, opposing the move.
“We replied to the Punjab CM and explained to him the rationale behind the move,” the official said. “The next step is to also include the Puducherry police under the changed rules. The process will soon begin.”
