The Prime Minister-led Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has formally approved a one-year extension to Chandigarh Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Kanwardeep Kaur — making her the first officer ever to receive a tenure extension in the post since the Union Territory came into existence.The ACC order dated March 16, 2026, a copy of which is with The Tribune, and signed by Director Sakshi Mittal of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, states that the ACC has approved the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) proposal for extension of inter-cadre deputation of Kanwardeep Kaur, IPS (PB: 2013) from the Punjab cadre to the AGMUT cadre (Chandigarh Segment) for a period of one year beyond March 8, 2026.The order has been addressed to Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan, with copies marked to the Prime Minister’s Office, the PS to the Home Minister, the Cabinet Secretariat, MHA’s Additional Secretary (Police-I) Rakesh Kumar Singh, the Chief Secretaries of Punjab and the UT of Chandigarh, and the officer concerned, among others.The development was first exclusively reported by The Tribune on March 5, when it was revealed that the ACC approval was imminent after a swift chain of clearances — from Punjab Governor and Chandigarh Administrator Gulab Chand Kataria’s recommendation, to Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s nod, the state government’s no-objection certificate, and the MHA forwarding the file to the ACC.Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan had at the time confirmed that all approvals were in place and only the formal ACC order was awaited.The order has come through even as Kaur’s original three-year deputation tenure expired on March 8.The UT Administration had accordingly not relieved her of charge pending the formal order, at the discretion of the Punjab Governor and UT Administrator. She continued at the helm of Chandigarh Police without interruption.Career highlightsA 2013-batch IPS officer of the Punjab cadre, Kanwardeep Kaur, 37, took charge as Chandigarh SSP on March 9, 2023, on inter-cadre deputation for three years. She was selected from a panel of three officers shortlisted by the Union Home Ministry.Before this assignment, she served as SSP in Ferozepur, Nawanshahr and Kapurthala, and was the first SSP of the newly carved-out district of Malerkotla.A Chandigarh and Mohali school alumna, she graduated from Punjab Engineering College (PEC).Kaur is only the second woman to hold the top police post in the UT. The first was Nilambri Vijay Jagdale, a 2008-batch Punjab cadre IPS officer, who served as Chandigarh SSP from 2017 to 2020.With Monday’s order formally extending her tenure, Kaur becomes the first SSP in Chandigarh’s history to serve beyond the standard three-year deputation period — a distinction that now stands on record.