Ex-home secy Satish Chandra appointed Punjab Police complaint body chairperson

There were seven claimants to the post that had been lying vacant for last six months after NS Kalsi resigned to join the Centre’s Skill Development Council as its chairperson.

The Punjab government Tuesday appointed retired IAS officer and former Home Secretary Satish Chandra as chairperson of Punjab Police Complaint Authority (PCA).

There were seven claimants to the post that had been lying vacant for last six months after NS Kalsi resigned to join the Centre’s Skill Development Council as its chairperson.

Earlier, several meetings, held under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary Vini Mahajan to finalise the chairperson, had failed to yield any result due to differences between her and Advocate General Atul Nanda.

The last meeting to finalise the name was held on September 3 but the decision was postponed. It has been learnt that it was only after Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh intervened that the meeting was rescheduled on Monday. Finally, the orders were issued on Tuesday.

Chandra had retired as Home Secretary in September last year and had been awaiting a post-retiral “adjustment”. He was among the frontrunners for the post of chairperson of Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission, a job that eventually went to Viswajeet Khanna.

Khanna, who was a contender for the post of chief secretary, had taken premature retirement to take up the PSERC job after Mahajan was appointed the Chief Secretary.

Chandra was in the reckoning for the post of Vigilance Commission chairperson too.

The orders by the government state that Chandra’s appointment will be governed by the Punjab Police Amendment Act, 2014 and the remuneration, allowances and terms and conditions of the appointment shall be notified separately.

The orders further state that the appointment is subject to the outcome of various court cases pending in the Supreme Court and High Court regarding the PCA. The appointment is for three years starting from the date of joining.

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