Chandigarh administration backs Vivek Sheel Soni as new SSP, sends name to MHA

CHANDIGARH: The UT administration has recommended 2011 batch IPS officer Vivek Sheel Soni’s name for the new senior superintendent of police (SSP) post reserved for Punjab cadre officers to the ministry of home affairs (MHA).
On June 9, the administration had received a panel of three IPS officers from the Punjab government for the post comprising names of Kuldeep Singh Chahal (2009 batch), SSP, Mohali, Patil Ketan Baliram (2010 batch), AIG, counter intelligence, Amritsar, and Soni, SSP, Ludhiana rural.
Nilambari Vijay Jagdale, a 2008 batch IPS officer, is holding the charge of Chandigarh SSP since August 22, 2017. A senior UT official said that with the approval of UT administrator VP Singh Badnore, administration has forwarded the name to the central government.
Terms of three officers of Chandigarh Police — DGP Sanjay Beniwal, SSP Jagdale and DIG Shashank Ahand, a Haryana cadre IPS officer — are going to end in the next six months.
The post of SSP (Chandigarh) had remained with AGMUT cadre IPS officers from Delhi till 1990. It was given to Punjab, when terrorism was at its peak in the state and the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, that governs Chandigarh related matters, felt the need of better coordination between Punjab and the central government in view of the law and order situation. IPS Sumedh Singh Saini was the first full-fledged SSP Chandigarh of Punjab cadre from 1991 to 1994.