Other States - Punjab   

New PPSC chief sworn in

Staff Correspondent

NEW ASSIGNMENT: Punjab Governor General (Retd.) S.F. Rodrigues greets S.K. Sinha after administrating the oath of the office to him as Chairman of Punjab Public Service Commission, at Raj Bhawan in Chandigarh on Tuesday. Punjab Chief Minister Amrinder Singh is on the right. PHOTO: PTI

CHANDIGARH: Senior bureaucrat, Sanjit Kumar Sinha, was sworn in by the Governor, as the new Chairman of the Punjab Public Service Commission

(PPSC), at a simple ceremony in the Raj Bhawan on Tuesday. Brig. (retd.) D.S. Grewal and Satwant Singh Mohi, were also sworn in as members of the commission.

Mr. Sinha, who had still three more years in service, resigned from the Indian Administrative Services (IAS) on Monday. He was serving as the Secretary for the Co-operatives department.

In 2002, when the Congress formed government in Punjab, Mr. Sinha was appointed the first Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister. However, following pressure from the dissident legislators and disgruntled leaders of the party, he was sidelined after 22 months in the coveted office.

Talking to reporters after the ceremony, the Chief Minister, Amarinder Singh discounted all allegations that Mr. Sinha had a tainted past. He said that the Akali Dal was trying to make political capital out of non issues.

On the other hand, the Akali Dal General Secretary, Sukhbir Singh Badal said that Mr. Sinha stood tainted due his controversial role in previous selections of naib tehsildars and later in the Deputy Superintendents of Police (DSP). In both cases, there were strictures from the court, he recalled.

Mr. Badal said that by appointing his most confidant bureaucrat as the PPSC chairman, for a term which is expected to complete in 2011, the Chief Minister had directly accepted the defeat of the Congress in the forthcoming assembly polls. He said that Capt Singh was attempting to ensure that his favoured men do not have to face judicial scrutiny for their illegal deeds once the Akali Dal returns to power next year.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

SAD to move court over `land scam'
Eight killed due to squall in North-West India
`Residents' participation in policy implementation must'
New PPSC chief sworn in

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu