4 min readChandigarhJun 30, 2026 10:31 PM IST
Gaurav Yadav, the officiating state police chief, is likely to be appointed as the regular Director General of Police (DGP) of Punjab, with the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on Tuesday shortlisting him among three IPS officers of the 1992 batch for the post, it has been learnt.
The other two officers that made it to the panel finalised by the UPSC’s empanelment committee include Sharad Satya Chauhan and Harpreet Singh Sidhu. In the pecking order, Chauhan is the senior most, followed by Sidhu and Yadav.
While Yadav is due to retire on April 30, 2029, Chauhan, currently posted as the state Vigilance Bureau chief retires on March 31, 2028. Sidhu, who was repatriated prematurely from his central deputation to the parent cadre in last year, retires on May 31, 2027.
Sources privy to the development told The Indian Express that Punjab Chief Secretary KAP Sinha too attended the UPSC empanelment committee meeting, which took up for discussion a panel of 14 names officers sent by the state government in April. Sinha did not respond to calls.
Once Punjab government names the officer who will lead the police force, it would end the nearly four-year-long arrangement of officiating DGP in the state. Multiple sources in the police department and the government said that Yadav will be made the regular DGP. “It seems there is no change on the cards. The final decision, however, is to be taken by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann,” said a senior government official. Yadav enjoys a good relationship with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government.
Punjab had decided to send a panel two months after the Supreme Court directed the UPSC to take proactive measures against states delaying the appointment of full-time DGPs. The apex court, expressing strong disapproval of the “acting DGP” culture prevalent in several states, had noted that it undermines the stability and independence of police leadership as envisioned in the 2006 Prakash Singh judgment. The court empowered the UPSC to directly remind states of impending vacancies and, in cases of persistent delays, file applications in the Prakash Singh case for accountability, including contempt actions against errant governments.
The Supreme Court had fixed February 5 and directed Punjab to send a panel within days. The state, however, delayed the process, even attempting to rely on its own legislative route through the Punjab Police (Amendment) Bill, 2023, an argument that did not find favour with the court. It was only after reminders from the UPSC and a rap from the top court that the Punjab government moved to finalise the list.
Story continues below this ad
Yadav, who was named the officiating DGP in July 2022, has now held the post for four years. The last time Punjab appointed a DGP through a panel cleared by the UPSC was in January 2022 when the then Congress government, headed by Charanjit Singh Channi, had picked VK Bhawra for the post. Bhawra’s was among the heads that rolled in the aftermath of the killing of Punjabi singer Shubhdeep Singh aka Sidhu Moosewala in May 2022. The AAP dispensation had in June 2022 asked Bhawra to proceed on leave and appointed Yadav as the officiating DGP.
Earlier, Punjab Vidhan Sabha had passed the Punjab Police (Amendment) Bill, 2023, seeking to circumvent UPSC and create a seven-member committee (chaired by a retired High Court judge) to prepare a panel of three officers and appoint a DGP with a three-year tenure. The Bill was sent to the Governor who referred it to the President for assent. President Droupadi Murmu had returned the Bill without assent.
Stay updated with the latest – Click here to follow us on Instagram