Punjab govt approves special appointments of Cong netas' kin as inspector & naib tehsildar

On Friday, June 18, the Punjab government decided to appoint the sons of two former Congress leaders as a police inspector and a naib tehsildar respectively by giving "relaxation in the relevant rules". The decision to appoint two Congress MLAs sons on the compassionate ground was taken in a Cabinet meeting, held through videoconference and chaired by Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh. 

As per an official release, the state Cabinet gave the approval to appoint Arjun Pratap Singh Bajwa as Inspector (Group B) in Punjab Police.

The release said, "The applicant is the grandson of former Minister Satnam Singh Bajwa, "who laid his life in 1987 for sake of peace and harmony in the State. He has been given an appointment by allowing one-time waiver/relaxation in the relevant rules without making it a precedent".

In another decision, the Cabinet also gave the nod to the appointment of Bhisham Pandey, the grandson of Joginder Pal Pandey who was gunned down by terrorists in 1987, as Naib Tehsildar (Group-B) in the Revenue Department.

The release further added, "His appointment is also treated as a special case, by giving one-time relaxation in the policy of compassionate appointments, 2002. However, it will not be treated as a precedent".

Noting the sacrifice of their families, Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh said children and grandchildren of such people would continue to be considered by his government for compensatory appointment on case to case basis. 

Condemnation from opposition

Soon after the decision was given the Cabinet approval, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal condemned Amarinder Singh for giving jobs in the police and revenue departments to the wards of Congress legislators. It is a decision taken by Amarinder Singh to "save his chair", he said, adding all such illegal appointments would be quashed once the SAD-BSP alliance forms the government in the state in 2022.

Terming the appointments as "illegal", Badal said jobs could not be given to the wards of legislators on the pretext of the alleged sacrifices of their grandfathers. On June 3, Punjab's main opposition party AAP held a protest here against the state government's proposal to give government jobs to the sons of two Congress MLAs on compassionate grounds.

(With ANI input)

(Image credit: PTI)