The chairman of Powercom will now be a secretary-rank officer, the Punjab government has changed the rules.
The Punjab government has changed the rules for the post of Chairman Managing Director of Powercom. Now even IAS officers of the rank of secretary can become CMDs, whereas earlier… Read More
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HighLights
- Punjab govt changes in Powercom CMD rules
- IAS officers of the rank of Secretary are also eligible.
- The engineers challenged in court
Inderpreet Singh, Chandigarh. The Punjab government has issued an order changing the rules set for the post of Chairman–Managing Director of Powercom. In the notification issued today, IAS officers of the rank of Secretary will now be eligible for the post of CMD along with the Principal Secretary.
Earlier, when the electricity board was divided into two corporations, there was an agreement between the government and the engineers of the electricity board that the CMD of Powercom would be a technocrat or an IAS officer of the rank of principal secretary or additional chief secretary. The Punjab government has been implementing this agreement so far.
But in February 2025, when Powercom CMD Baldev Singh Saran retired, the government gave the charge to the Principal Secretary of the Electricity Department, AK Sinha, but two months ago, he was removed from the post of Principal Secretary and CMD of the Electricity Department and handed over the charge to Secretary-rank Officer Basant Garg, then the engineers challenged it in the court, in which the court on November 20 gave the charge to the Chief of the State Government. Asked to give an affidavit to the secretary that whether the post of CMD is for IAS? If not, then how can an IAS officer be appointed to head an autonomous body?
Sources say that before responding, the government has issued a notification today by amending the old notification which had terms and conditions for the post of CMD and said that an IAS officer of the rank of secretary can now be appointed for the CMD. However, the former engineer has described it as a violation of the agreement between the government, engineers, etc.
