Meritorious Leadership in Public Administration, Policing and Governance
(Isstories Editorial):- Chandigarh, India Jan 25, 2026 (Issuewire.com) – The conferment of the President’s Medal for Distinguished Service upon Shri Arun Pal Singh, IPS (Punjab Cadre, 1997 Batch) for the second time on the occasion of Republic Day 2026 stands as a rare and emphatic affirmation of a career that has consistently strengthened public institutions, advanced governance, and elevated the practice of policing and public administration in Punjab and across India.
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Over nearly three decades, Shri Arun Pal Singh has come to be regarded as an officer of exceptional moral authority, intellectual depth, and administrative discipline. His leadership is marked by unwavering honesty, spiritual grounding, and sustained personal rigour, qualities that have earned him enduring respect within the Indian Police Service, the wider civil administration, and among the communities he has served. His work reflects a deeply held belief that public office is an ethical trust, exercised with restraint, clarity, and lifelong accountability. His early life and education in Chandigarh shaped both his intellectual orientation and ethical worldview. With a pronounced inclination toward science and analytical reasoning, he pursued an engineering education that provided a systems-based understanding of complexity and problem-solving, attributes that would later define his approach to governance. Parallel to academic excellence, he distinguished himself in sport, emerging as a national-level badminton player and later as a champion at the Police Academy, reflecting discipline, endurance, and competitive excellence from an early age.
From the earliest years of his service, Shri Arun Pal Singh demonstrated an extraordinary devotion to field engagement and institutional responsibility. Known for a life of personal austerity, spiritual discipline, and vegetarianism, he has remained remarkably consistent in his work ethic, routinely dedicating 18 or more hours each day to official duties. From his first field postings in the early 2000s to his current role as Additional Director General of Police, his leadership has been defined by presence, accessibility, and sustained engagement with ground realities. His early professional formation as ASP under training in Amritsar and Jalandhar exposed him to complex operational environments that shaped his command style. These experiences were followed by impactful tenures as SP and SSP in key districts including Ludhiana, Kapurthala, Amritsar, Sangrur, Faridkot and Khanna, where he balanced decisive law-and-order management with administrative refinement. His later appointments as DIG Range and DCP Jalandhar placed him at the forefront during critical periods, requiring strategic coordination, institutional resilience, and measured leadership.
A defining dimension of his career has been his sustained contribution to the Punjab Armed Police (PAP), where he served both as DIG and IG, focusing on strengthening core operational capabilities, training standards, and organisational discipline. His performance and professional calibre were formally recognised at premier training institutions, including commendable distinction at the National Police Academy and the Tactical and Combat Training Centre (TAC), Gujarat, reinforcing his reputation as an officer of both operational and doctrinal excellence.
ADGP Arun Pal Singh’s professional development has also been enriched through advanced training and international exposure, including specialised courses undertaken in the United Kingdom and South Korea, reflecting a commitment to continuous learning and global best practices in policing, public policy, and institutional management. These experiences further strengthened his capacity to translate international standards into locally grounded, effective governance. His expertise has been utilised across a wide spectrum of critical roles, including DIG Intelligence, IG Litigation, IGP Crime and IG Jalandhar Range, positions demanding strategic foresight across intelligence operations, legal policy, and regional command. More recently, as Commissioner of Police, Amritsar, he led the city through complex security challenges and coordinated a rare high-level joint operational exercise with the National Security Guard (NSG), underscoring both operational preparedness and inter-agency coordination at the highest level. His subsequent role as ADGP Modernisation, Punjab, further contributed to institutional reform through infrastructure development, technology integration, and systems strengthening.
The values that anchor his public life are inseparable from a distinguished legacy of service. Shri Arun Pal Singh is the son of Late Shri T.S. Sahota, a highly respected Director of the Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS) and a self-made administrator who served as Regional Director, Railway Board of India. Widely regarded for his integrity, professional independence, and commitment to institutional excellence, Shri T.S. Sahota’s life of service profoundly shaped his son’s understanding of governance as a moral vocation rather than a career.
After the promotion to the rank of Additional Director General of Police, Shri Arun Pal Singh was entrusted with leadership of the Prisons Department of Punjab, one of the most demanding and sensitive portfolios in state administration. Under his Leadership, the department has witnessed structural strengthening, enhanced governance frameworks, and reform-oriented initiatives, earning recognition at both national and international levels. His contributions to correctional administration have positioned Punjab as an active and credible participant in global discourse on prison reform. In November 2025, Shri Arun Pal Singh represented India at the 23rd Conference of the Asian Pacific Association of Correctional Administrators (APAAC) held in South Korea, where he engaged with international counterparts on best practices in correctional governance, rehabilitation frameworks, and institutional accountability.
The second conferment of the President’s Medal for Distinguished Service is an affirmation of meritorious service marked by courage and bravery, intellectual integrity, moral courage, and sustained excellence in governance, public policy execution, and community service. Shri Arun Pal Singh’s career stands as a benchmark of what principled leadership can achieve when guided by discipline, scholarship, and an unwavering commitment to the public good.
In honouring him, the nation affirms the values he embodies.
This article was originally published by IssueWire. Read the original article here.
