Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh today asked the top brass of the police to put an immediate end to fighting their personal and professional matters in courts and media, a government official said.
Singh had summoned a closed-door meeting of all the top officials of the force today. The meeting assumes significance in the wake of some serious allegations levelled by a senior IPS officer against two DGPs in the Punjab and Haryana High Court on April 6.
The chief minister noted that he had never seen such things happening in the Punjab Police, which had brought the state out of many difficult phases.
He ordered the top brass of the police to put an immediate end to fighting their personal and professional battles in the courts and the media. He said, if needed, he would even approach Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to seek the dismissal of any officer found violating discipline in the force.
Putting an emphasis on the stature of DGP Suresh Arora, The CM made it clear that every officer in the force was required to accept Arora's leadership, whom he described as a highly professional officer.
"The Union minister had wanted to take Arora to the Centre but he had requested for his retention in the state in view of his expertise and professionalism, Amarinder Singh said.
DGP (HRD) Siddharth Chattopadhyaya in an application before the high court had accused DGP Suresh Arora and DGP (Intelligence) Dinkar Gupta of trying to drag him in a suicide case of a son of the former president of Chief Khalsa Dewan, a century-old charitable-cum-educational body.
Chattopadhyaya had also levelled other allegations against the two DGP rank officers.
Amarinder Singh said that professional matters being taken to the court were unacceptable, and warned that "this has to stop right now."
"Any senior officer facing a professional issue should first approach the state DGP, followed by the Home Secretary and the Chief Secretary, and if he is still not satisfied, he can come to me," the chief minister said.
DGP Arora said the entire business was particularly awkward for him personally, but assured the officers that he will not let them down at any cost and would continue to work towards enhancing the professional standards of the force.
Home Secretary N S Kalsi also expressed shock and concern at the developments and exhorted the officers to get back to the task of keeping the state and its people safe and secure.
The meeting was attended by Chief Principal Secretary Suresh Kumar, besides all the DGPs, except Sumedh Singh Saini, and the 17 ADGPs of the Punjab Police.
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