By Arun Pratap Singh
Dehradun, 18 Apr: With senior IFS officer Vinod Singhal having managed to get a stay from the Supreme Court on the Uttarakhand High Court order reinstating seniormost IFS officer Rajiv Bhartari as the PCCF, the battle is underway between the top two officers from the forest department. As the legal battle continues, the Uttarakhand Government has been reluctant to take a strict decision in this regard.
A Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC) meet scheduled for today to take a decision on the next Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) and Head of Forest Department was cancelled.
It may be recalled that, both, Singhal and Bhartari are set to retire on 30 April, after which a new PCCF will have to take charge.
Speaking to Garhwal Post, Forest Minister Subodh Uniyal today admitted that, due to the ongoing legal battle between the top two IFS officers of the state, the performance of the forest department is getting affected adversely. He did not agree, however, that the legal battle was affecting the image of the state government. Uniyal said the government is not a party to the legal battle and, therefore, there is no question of the image of the government getting adversely affected. He further said that the government will soon hold the DPC to decide on the next PCCF.
Meanwhile, Vinod Singhal has been reinstated as PCCF following the SC decision to stay the High Court judgement, while Rajiv Bhartari who had been reinstated as PCCF by the High Court seems to have lost without many options as there are just a few days left for him to retire along with Singhal. The battle will then have notional value rather than any real importance.
