DFO suspended for dereliction of duty
Gopal Sharma
JAMMU, May 20: The Government today dismissed two Forest officers for their alleged involvement in CET scam and placed a Divisional Forest Officers (DFO) under suspension for dereliction of duty.
Official sources said that services of two Forest Department officers were terminated for their alleged involvement in Common Entrance Test -2012 scam.
The dismissal orders were issued in this regard by the Commissioner/ Secretary to Govt Forest, Ecology and Environment Department, Sanjeev Verma, against Range Officer-II, the then WildLife Warden, Kishtwar, Altaf Hussain Shah and DDR Forester, the then In-charge DFO Social Forestry, Kupwara, Mohammed Amin Mir. They were found involved in the Common Entrance Test, 2012 scam following which a case FIR Number 24 of 2013 was lodged against the officers by the Crime Branch, Kashmir.
Verma,while issuing termination orders, quoted Crime Branch, Kashmir’s communication of May 12, 2014 asserting that the then, Joint Director, Forest Protection Force (FPF) Kashmir,Javed Ahmed Andrabi was appointed as Inquiry Officer to enquire into the charges levelled against these two officers.
“The Inquiry Officers have provisionally concluded the penalty of ‘censure’ be imposed on the accused officers regarding their unauthorized absence from the duties pending outcome of criminal proceedings before the Anti Corruption Court in Srinagar,” Verma’s order quoted the Crime Branch as saying.
Both the officers also remained under judicial custody from May 3, 2018 to May 17, 2018 of Crime Branch, Kashmir in the case Crime Branch, Kashmir V/s Mushtaq Ahmed Peer and others.
On the basis of a report from the Crime Branch and Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, J&K, then Incharge DFO Marwah, Altaf Hussain Shah and the then Incharge Project Officer LAWDA Mohammed Amin were also placed under suspension.
The Government order said that the law is “clear that the convicted persons, even if the sentence (conviction) has been suspended by the appellate court, can be terminated from the service on criminal charges”.
It is pertinent to mention here that Shah had retired from the active services on October 31, 2019 while Mir is retiring on July 3, 2024.
“The Court of Special Judge Anti Corruption Srinagar on April 25, 2014 had convicted them among others with rigorous imprisonment. Therefore, the services of the employees are to be terminated from the date of conviction (April 25, 2018) in terms of provisions laid down in the Article 311 of the Constitution of India,” read the termination order.
Meanwhile, in yet another order issued here today the Commissioner/ Secretary Forest, Environment and Ecology, Sanjeev Verma suspended DFO Jammu Alok Kumar Maurya on the charges of ‘dereliction of duties and subsequent failure on compliance of High Court’s directions vis-à-vis encroachment of Forest land.
The order issued by Commissioner Secretary Forest said that “ in a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) No 25/2017 titled SAVE (Save Animal Value Environment) Vs State of J&K & Ors, CM No. 1456/020 IA Nos. 112017 and 2/2017, pending before the High Court of J&K and during the course of hearings, multiple orders have been issued regarding encroachment on Forest lands, wherein, inter-alia, the Forest Department was directed to submit details of the persons in unauthorized occupation of Forest lands, put up the details of Forest Lands encroached on the website of Forest Department and to take steps to evict the encroachers from the land. In the order dated 07.10.2020, the High Court was also pleased to direct that `Let the respondents also file a report before us giving the action taken to retrieve the land from the 50 largest encroachers (in terms of size of the land encroached) before the next date of hearing’ following which the status of retrieval of encroached Forest Land was reviewed by authorities on 30th April, 2021 and it was observed that in Jammu Forest Division ‘no tangible action’ has been taken to effectively demonstrate the compliance of the directions of High Court, as regards the eviction and retrieval of the encroached Forest Lands,” it said.
“Alok Kumar Maurya, DFO Jammu Forest Division has ‘failed to comply with the directions’ of High Court in retrieving and securing the encroached Forest lands and evidently, his inaction has further delayed evictions and retrieval of the encroached lands,” it added.
“In fact, Maurya has faltered in performing his legitimate duties, as Divisional Forest Officer, for retrieving and safeguarding the encroached Forest lands, including retrieval and restoration of the Forest lands from the clutches of the identified largest encroachers”,it said.
“Now, therefore, pending enquiry into the matter, Alok Kumar Maurya, IFS, (JK: 2015), DFO Jammu Forest Division is hereby placed under suspension for dereliction of duties and for his abject failure to comply with the directions of the High Court,” it said.
“During the period of his suspension, Maurya, shall remain attached with the office of Principal Chief Conservator of Forests & HoFF, J&K, the order said.
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