Himachal Pradesh High Court
Slp(C) No. 21724/2018, Titled As Bhoop ... vs . High Court Of on 4 September, 2018
Bench: Sanjay Karol, Ajay Mohan Goel
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CWPIL No. 45 of 2018 04.09.2018 Present: Mr. B.C. Negi, Senior Advocate, as Amicus Curiae, with Mr. Nimish Gupta, Advocate.
Mr. Ashok Sharma, Advocate General, with Mr. Ajay Vaidya, Senior Additional Advocate General & M/s Ritta Goswami and Nand Lal Thakur, Additional Advocates General, for respondents State.
Mr. Virender Kanwar, Advocate, for respondent No. 5.
Mr. Varinder Singh Kanwar, learned counsel for respondent No. 5 has placed on record order, dated 23 rd August, 2018, passed by Hon'ble Supreme Court of India in SLP(C) No. 21724/2018, titled as Bhoop Ram Vs. High Court of Himachal Pradesh & Ors.
Vide his personal affidavit, dated 27 th August, 2018, the Additional Chief Secretary (Forests), Government of Himachal Pradesh has indicated the field inspections carried out by different committees with respect to the different forest divisions. However, what needs to be observed is the admission of laxity exercised on the part of different officers/officials in adhering to the Manual/instructions issued from time to time for carrying out inspections.
We notice that the said officer has issued an office order, dated 29th May, 2018, which reads as under:
"The State Government is committed to make best efforts to ensure that forest wealth is well managed and protected. A target of enhancing the forest cover to 30% of the total ::: Downloaded on - 06/09/2018 22:58:59 :::HCHP .
geographical area by 2030 has been set as part of its commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals. Thus it is crucial to closely monitor the forests and various forestry development programmes to ensure optimum outcome in order to attain our targets.
Essentially it can be best achieved with collective effort of forest officers and forest officials at all levels and they have to give their best professional inputs. Various instructions have been issued in the department from time to time to put in practice a monitoring and evaluation mechanism but it could not be properly established.
To ensure that out targets under various forestry development programmes are met both qualitatively and quantitatively and also status of forests is well tracked, the department has issued a Technical Standing Order dated 24 March, 2018 at the level of PCCF (HoFF) superseding all previous instructions. This Technical Standing Order has been formulated in the form of a manual prescribing norms of mandatory checks by forest officers and officials at various levels.
The Government endorses this Technical Standing Order to institutionalize and put in place a robust mechanism for monitoring & evaluation. All the officers and officials shall be duty bound to carry out the mandatory field touring and inspections in their respective jurisdictions as per the norms ::: Downloaded on - 06/09/2018 22:58:59 :::HCHP .
laid down in the aforesaid order. The responsibility and accountability of an individual officer and official at various levels shall be determined and fixed according to the norms laid down in said order to ensure that various developmental programmes and policies of the department visavis the r planned targets are well tracked to achieve the intended outcomes. All the concerned officers are directed to follow the order in letter & spirit. Any laxity will be viewed seriously"
{Emphasis added) Mr. B. C. Negi, learned Senior Advocate invites our attention to affidavit, dated 30th May, 2018 of the Chief Secretary, Government of Himachal Pradesh, wherein, it stands averred as under:
"10. That three inquiries have already been held in this matter. The first inquiry was conducted by ACF, Shimla Forest Division and second inquiry was conducted by Sh. S.K. Sharma, IFS, PCCF (Administration). The third inquiry was conducted by Dr. Sanjeeva Pandey, PCCF (Working Plan), the senior most officer of the Department. Based on these inquiries, three officials namely S/Sh. Hari Singh, Forest Guard, retired, who held the charge of Bhalawag Beat for twelve years upto 31.12.2017, Vicky Chauhan, Deputy Ranger, Block Officer, Koti and Prakash Chand, Deputy Ranger, who was ::: Downloaded on - 06/09/2018 22:58:59 :::HCHP .
Block Officer Koti prior to Vicky Chauhan were found negligent in discharge of their duty and had failed to detect illicit felling. Disciplinary proceedings have already been initiated against these officers and they all are chargesheeted.
To ascertain responsibility of other officers and initiate criminal action, due procedure has to be followed. In this regard, the following points may be considered.
(a) It may not be appropriate to fix responsibility merely on detection of an offence in the area of the officer unless it is directly attributable to him/her.
(b) Further it an officer visits a Range/Block/Beat, he/she cannot be expected to visit each and every forest plot and therefore he/she cannot be held responsible for all short comings in that area. Otherwise this may discourage the officers from touring their areas and this may also result in suppression of offences by officer(s) incharge of areas where offences occur.
PCCF (HoFF) has therefore been directed by the Govt. to ascertain the responsibility of all the forest officers up to the level of Chief Conservator of Forests/ Conservator of Forests posted over the last four years period. Further disciplinary action/ FIR can be registered against these officers only after it is ascertained that they were directly responsible."
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Let Chief Secretary, Government of Himachal Pradesh file fresh status report by the next date of hearing.
List on 25th September, 2018.
(Sanjay Karol) Acting Chief Justice (Ajay Mohan Goel) Judge September 04, 2018 (bhupender/ysc) ::: Downloaded on - 06/09/2018 22:58:59 :::HCHP