Haryana Government appoints BS Sandhu as state’s DGP

The Haryana government on 27 April 2017 appointed senior IPS officer Baljit Singh Sandhu as the new Director General of Haryana Police. The 1984 batch IPS officer would be replacing K P Singh, who has been appointed as the Director General of Prisons.

This major reshuffle is being seen as an effort by the Manohar Lal Khattar-led BJP government to pacify a section of their party’s dissident MLAs and to put a fresh face in front of the public. It’s a long-standing issue among a section of the ruling party MLAs that the state and district level officers do not spare time to address their problems.

Key Highlights

• Sandhu was previously serving as the Chairman and MD of Haryana Police Housing Corporation in Panchkula.

• The Haryana government had appointed KP Singh, a 1985-batch IPS officer as the state’s Chief of police on 13 April 2016.

• Singh was appointed in place of Yashpal Singal, who was removed after the major outbreak of violence during the Jat agitation in February 2016.

• Talks on Singh’s removal had been doing rounds for several weeks, following the registration of a case against a close relative of a senior member of the BJP government.

• PR Deo, a 1986-batch officer would be taking over Sandhu’s previous position as the CMD of the Haryana Police Housing Corporation after his return from Central deputation.

• Other major reshuffling includes appointment of1985-batch officers, K Selvaraj and Rajwant Pal Singh as the DGP Railways and OSD Rules and as the Commandant General (Home Guard) and Director (Civil Defence) respectively.