Uproar in Punjab Forest Dept as officer supersedes 8 seniors, gets top post

In an unprecedented move, the Punjab Government has posted the Conservator of Forests (North circle) Hoshiarpur, Sanjeev Kumar Tewari, a 2007-batch IFS officer, as Chief Conservator of Forests (CCF) Hills, bypassing at least eight senior IFS officers in the Punjab Forest Department.

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The orders, issued by Chief Secretary, KAP Sinha, on last Friday, as part of the general transfers orders of IAS and PCS officers, have created quite an uproar not only in the Forest Department but also in the bureaucratic circles.

The Chief Secretary did not respond to phone calls.

Meanwhile, sources said the 2007-batch IFS officers seem to be indispensable to the government as, in addition to the crucial charge of CCF (Hills), he has been given additional five charges in the Department of Tourism and Cultural Affairs - Special Secretary, Department of Tourism and Cultural Affairs; Director, Tourism and Cultural Affairs, Chief Executive Officer, Punjab Heritage and Tourism Promotion Board, CEO and GM, Virasat-E-Khalsa, Anandpur Sahib and Managing Director, Punjab Tourism Development Corporation Limited.

For the protection and conservation of forests and enforcing the forest laws in the state, the CCF (Hills) is responsible for protecting 80 per cent of the forest area, stretching from eco-fragile Shivalik Hills in Mohali district to Pathankot district.

Officials privy to the development said by posting the same officer as the CCF (Hills) and in charge of the Tourism Department, the issue or conflict of interests could emerge. In the issue of eco-tourism projects, forests officials have been talking about the applicability of the Forest Conservation Act (FCA) 1980 and other forest laws. Certain influential persons were seeking permission for eco-tourism projects in the forest area through the Tourism Department, but the Forest Department had been citing applicability of the forest laws, it is learnt.

In posting Tewari as the CCF (Hills), the department has bypassed senior IFS officers like Amit Mishra, Nidhi Srivastava, Mahavir Singh, NS Randhawa, SP Anant Kumar, S Kanan, S Kumar Sagar and Sanjay Bansal.

Officials in the department said Tewari, currently in the rank of Conservator of Forests (CF), was yet to be promoted as the CCF. The Forest Department has been asked to issue orders of Tewari as CCF (Hills) and Interestingly, the annual transfers of the Forest Department are pending with the state civil board, headed by the Chief Secretary.