CHANDIGARH: Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Tuesday said that it was his job to ensure discipline as indiscipline will not be tolerated, and, anyone questioning the hierarchy was actually questioning the system.
This was in response to a question regarding the plea made by DGP (Human Resource Development) Sidhharth Chattopadhyaya’s lawyer Anupam Gupta yesterday in the Punjab and Haryana High Court had said that the Chief Minister was in contempt of court for having called a disciplinary meeting of the police top brass, Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh said he had not interfered in any way in the matter before the court. He had only given directions to his police officers in the interest of the state, he said asserting that he would not tolerate indiscipline in the force.
"Discipline in the uniformed forces, be it the Army, the paramilitary or the police, has to be maintained at all costs. This is my instruction to the officers. My duty is to ensure discipline is maintained. Whether they go to high court or not is their business. You have to listen to the man at the top whosoever is head, is your boss, and that is how it should be. Anybody questioning that is breaking the system," he asserted.
Amarinder reiterated, in response to another question, that the only way to bring Harpreet Singh Sidhu to the state to head the STF against drugs was to get him into the CMO since he was then on central deputation, where he was then yet to complete his tenure. Now that his pending tenure with the central government has ended, he has been placed under the DGP, Amarinder explained.
Reiterating that the Dalit and OBC community had been given adequate representation in the cabinet, Amarinder pointed out that not all the 77 ruling party MLAs can be made ministers but, those left out would be suitably accommodated, as already promised by him.
When pointed out that some of the ministers did not have sufficient qualifications to head their departments, the Chief Minister said they all had qualified and experienced staff to help them carry out their jobs. A defence minister is not an Army General, he quipped after the installation of the new ministers in their offices at the Punjab Secretariat.
Efficiencies are bound to improve with the expansion of the cabinet, said Amarinder, observing that already, there was a marked improvement in the state’s overall situation. Even the financial conditions had improved slightly, he said, pointing out that pensions had been disbursed regularly under the various social security schemes for the past four months.