DW BUREAU / Chandigarh

The Punjab government on Friday suspended state Vigilance Bureau Chief S P S Parmar and two other senior officers in connection with an alleged driving licence scam. The government also suspended Assistant Inspector General, Vigilance Bureau, SAS Nagar, Swarandeep Singh, and Senior Superintendent of Police, Vigilance Bureau, Jalandhar, Harpreet Singh.

Additional Director General of Police (NRI) Praveen Kumar Sinha will hold the additional charge of Chief Director, Vigilance Bureau.

Parmar was placed under suspension with immediate effect under Rule 3 (3) of All India Services (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1969, for "grave misconduct and dereliction of duty," according to an order. The government suspended the officers for allegedly not taking action against the people involved in the alleged scam.

Earlier this month, the vigilance bureau had conducted surprise inspections at regional transport authority (RTA) offices and driving test centres across the state, leading to the arrest of several people allegedly involved in bribery and malpractices.

The operation targeted RTA officials and agents who were acting as intermediaries, charging illegal fees to expedite driving licence processing or manipulate driving test results.

Parmar, a 1997 batch IPS officer, was appointed as the Punjab Vigilance chief on March 26, replacing G Nageswara Rao. Before that, Parmar was serving as Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order).

(editor@dailyworld.in)