Gurgaon: Order by deputy commissioner, Nuh spells chaos in forest department

The order, itself, created chaos in the forest department as the tops officials were of opinion that the notice is not a valid order

Confusion prevailed in the administrative section of the forest department after the deputy commissioner of Nuh on Friday ordered that an IAS officer to take over the post of divisional forest officer.

HT File

The letter by Mani Ram Sharma, DC, Nuh, stated, “Ravinder Yadav, DFO, Nuh, is not taking proper interest in plantation programme and he never attended the meeting as well…..for smooth working of the developmental schemes of the forest department Rahul Narwal IAS, assistant commissioner under training, Nuh will look after the work of divisional forest officer with immediate effect in public interest (sic).”

The letter also mentioned that the additional chief secretary (ACS), forest and wildlife, SK Gulati had been called up by the deputy commissioner, Nuh for approval of the notice.

Gulati said, “I will look into the matter and will take a decision after verifying facts.” A copy of the order is with Hindustan Times.

However, the order, itself, created chaos in the forest department as the tops officials were of opinion that the notice is not a valid order.

“We will file a PIL if the order is not withdrawn. There are rules and procedures in all departments. An IAS officer cannot be given charge of an IFS officer. This is an absurd order. The forest department was not even made aware of the situation before the decision was taken,” RP Balwan, (retd) conservator of forest, South Haryana, said.

He also said that the state shall descend into administrative chaos abetted by administrative section.

Earlier, the forest officials of Gurgaon and Faridabad had alleged that the ACS had forced them to change the land use of an area and had also threatened them with dire consequences when they refused to follow his orders. Following this, the Indian Forest Service Association demanded disciplinary action against Gulati. The body has written a letter to the chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, urging his intervention in the matter.

In their letter to the association, the four forest officials said that the ACS forced them to issue permission for tree felling over 52 acres in the Aravallis in order to free up space for a housing project. They alleged that he even termed the land in question as ‘non-forest.’

More than 10,000 trees on the 52-acre plot at Sarai Khwaja village in Faridabad district were chopped.