Woman IFS officer accuses senior of verbal abuse

Sushil Manav

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 23

A woman IFS officer has alleged that she is being subjected to continuous pressure by her IAS boss in discharge of her statutory functions.

In a letter to Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, Renjitha MH has accused ACS (Forest) Sunil Gulati of continuous verbal abuse, which according to her is not conducive to the establishment of a safe working environment for a lady officer.

An IFS officer of the 2008 batch, she is posted as Divisional Forest Officer in Faridabad. The issue relates to June 22 orders issued by Gulati, allowing felling of trees on 52 acres in the Aravalli range belonging to Bharti Reality Ltd despite reservations by departmental officers.

An affidavit in this connection had to be filed on the government’s behalf in a case pending before the National Green Tribunal (NGT).

Renjitha had refused to file the affidavit as Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) PP Bhojvaid had already written to Gulati that since the decision had been taken at the government level, the matter should be defended by the government alone.

“Words like bloody fool and crooked were used by Gulati over the phone. I was told that I would not be spared and would be made to pay. Impartial and unbiased discharge of duty cannot be ensured in such circumstances,” she wrote in her letter to Khattar, with copies to the Chief Secretary, PCCF and others.

“On June 23, I was subjected to continuous pressure in discharge of my statutory functions in powers vested under the Punjab Land Preservation Act, 1900. I was threatened that I would have to face lifelong problems in a tone and tenor unbecoming of a conversation between two senior all-India services officers and is not conducive to inter-service camaraderie,” she wrote.

Maintaining that she was feeling threatened and traumatised as “verbal abuse” continued on July 4 and 5, Renjitha requested Khattar to post her outside the administrative control of Gulati as it was impossible to work in such an “illogical and biased” atmosphere. She sought an inquiry into All-India Services (Conduct) Rules.

Refuting Renjtha’s allegations, Gulati said if somebody did not perform his or her duty, he had to tell him or her to do so. He said abusive language was not in his nature. He alleged that a lobby of IFS officers had been stalling people’s projects with motives best known to them. He claimed that they had made her write the complaint.