Twenty two years after Punjab’s then Chief Minister Beant Singh was assassinated, his grandson Guriqbal Singh’s appointment as Deputy Superintendent of Punjab Police on compassionate grounds after allegedly bending the rules today came under judicial scanner.

Acting on a petition alleging that Guriqbal was not even eligible for appointment, Justice Rakesh Kumar Jain of the High Court fixed December 5 as the next date of hearing in the matter.

Seeking the setting aside of his appointment, Praveen Kumar of Tarn Taran claimed that in any case his family did not require compassionate appointment as their financial and political status was “sky scrapping”

Describing himself as a member of the Khalra Mission organisation formed in 1995, the petitioner claimed he was working for the welfare of anti-Sikh riots victims. He added Guriqbal was younger brother of Ludhiana MP Ravneet Bittu and cousin of Khanna MLA Gurkirat Kotli.

He added government jobs had been offered to the families of slain police officers in the past, but never to kin of Chief Minister assassinated while in office. Quoting sources in the state Chief Minister’s office, the petitioner claimed that proposal for his appointment came from Captain Amarinder Singh himself.

“It was on the Chief Minister’s nod that the department concerned sought an application from Guriqbal. The government has bent the rules and law to recruite his grandson as DSP on compassionate grounds. “What makes him ineligible is the fact that he has crossed the maximum age of 28 for direct recruitment as DSP in Punjab. He added that an objection had also been made by the Finance Department that the appointment could not be legally valid.

The objective of compassionate appointment was to give succour to the family which suddenly plunged into penury due to the untimely death of its sole breadwinner. But in the Guriqbal case, his family was having high political status as almost all of the members were in politics as MP and MLAs.

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