Orders by IFS officer Harsh Kumar from 2018 onwards declared void by Punjab Govt
Chandigarh, December 4
The state government has cancelled all orders, permissions, approvals and communication by IFS officer Harsh Kumar as Chief Conservator of Forests (Hills) with effect from January 30, 2018.
The order issued by Additional Chief Secretary (Forests) Raji P Shrivastava stated that after careful consideration of the matter, all works done by Harsh as CCF (Hills) upon his transfer had been declared legally infructuous, as the officer abused his designation and stamp.
Will lead to chaos, says Harsh Kumar
- The order of the ACS (Forests) is in violation of the CAT’s ruling. This will lead to chaos as I have passed over 3,000 orders or issued other instructions
- There is no reference of the CAT’s miscellaneous application 701 of 2018 and contempt of the court proceedings 135 of 2019 where the Tribunal had asked to maintain status quo
- These orders have been passed to scuttle filing of challans in the court against some former and incumbent IAS officers in the case of illegal felling of trees to widen Bist Doab Canal
The order has put focus on permissions for eco-tourism projects granted by Harsh citing approved management plans of various forest divisions and scientific mapping.
Recently, the Vigilance Bureau sought clarification from the Forest Department regarding permission for eco-tourism project granted to a retired IPS officer Rakesh Chandra.
After being transferred, Harsh knocked on the doors of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), which ordered to maintain status quo. As a result, Harsh has been holding the charge of CCF (Hills).
The ACS (Forests) in her order pointed out that the CAT issued status quo on February 1, 2018, while IFS officer Saurabh Gupta took over as CCF (Hills) on January 30, 2018.
In his place, Basanta Kumar was now holding the post of CCF (Hills), prior to the posting of Mahavir Singh after Saurabh Gupta.
On the ACS (Forests) order, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF), HOFF, RK Mishra has cancelled all the permissions or letters issued by Harsh as CCF (Hills) after January 30, 2018.
