The Punjab government on Monday, April 6, transferred 12 IAS officers including four Deputy Commissioners in the state. According to an official order, IAS officer Himanshu Aggarwal has been appointed Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Patiala, replacing IAS officer Varjeet Walia, who has been made Deputy Commissioner of Jalandhar.

According to the order, Amit Kumar Panchal has been appointed DC of Muktsar and Akash Bansal has been appointed DC of Kapurthala. Senior IAS officer Vikas Pratap has been posted as Additional Chief Secretary, Technical Education and Industrial Training, while Sumer Singh Gurjar has been given the charge of Principal Secretary, Defense Services Welfare.

Agriculture Commissioner, IAS officer Babita has been given the additional charge of Commissioner of Firozpur division. Jaspreet Singh has been posted as Director of Industries and Commerce, while Abhijeet Kaplish has been given the charge of Director of Mines and Geology. Jasbir Singh has been posted as Additional Secretary in the General Administration and Coordination Department.

Panel of 14 senior officers for selection of DGP

Apart from this, the Punjab government has sent a panel of 14 senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officers to the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) to shortlist three candidates for the appointment of regular Director General of Police in the state.

At present IPS officer Gaurav Yadav is the acting Director General of Police. Senior IPS officers of the rank of Director General of Police are included in the list sent to UPSC. Sources said that this list includes the names of 1992 batch IPS officer Gaurav Yadav, Special Director General of Police Sharad Satya Chauhan (Punjab Vigilance Chief), Special Director General of Police (Anti-Narcotics Task Force) Kuldeep Singh and senior IPS officer Harpreet Singh Sidhu (awaiting posting). Last month, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had said that his government would send a panel of officers to select a regular DGP.