Punjab and Haryana High Court on Friday upheld the appointment of Punjab DGP Dinkar Gupta.
The court allowed the petitions of the state government and the director general of police (DGP), Dinkar Gupta, challenging the central administrative tribunal (CAT) order that set aside his appointment as the Punjab Police chief.
A 1987-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, Gupta superseded five officers to be named the state police chief on February 7, 2019.
IPS officers Mohammad Mustafa and Siddharth Chattopadhyaya had challenged Gupta’s appointment, saying they were ignored despite being senior and having an outstanding service record. The other officers superseded were Hardeep Dhillon, Jasminder Singh and Samant Goel.
“Our petitions have been allowed by the high court. A detailed order is awaited,” Punjab advocate general, Atul Nanda said.
A two-member bench of CAT chairman L Narsimha Reddy and M Jamshed had pronounced the order.
The police officers also opposed the contention of the empanelment committee, which had sent a report to the UPSC, saying the officers lacked experience in core policing areas. In his previous stint, Gupta was posted as the director-general of police, (intelligence) Punjab.
