With Senior IAS Official Facing Graft Probe, Haryana Forest Department Remains Headless

Haryana Forest Department is facing a rare situation with works getting affected with each passing day. According to reports, the work in the forest department has come to a halt while administrative issues remain unresolved as the organisation has been crawling without a head of the department since October 1. The state government is unable to finalize a name as Vineet Garg, the second senior-most IFS officer and currently serving as PCCF (Wildlife) and Chief Wildlife Warden, is under a departmental investigation over allegations of financial impropriety. According to a Hindustan Times report, the file related to financial impropriety is currently pending in the Vigilance Branch of the Chief Secretary’s office.

IFS officer Vineet Garg, from the 1989 batch, is considered the frontrunner for the PCCF position. Currently, he holds the dual roles of PCCF (Wildlife) and Chief Wildlife Warden. He has been accused of financial irregularities and mismanagement of departmental funds. According to reports, allegations against Garg include misusing the department's budget.

The report said that after over a month of deliberation, the Haryana government has appointed Jagdish Chander, a 1988-batch Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer, as the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Head of Forest Force). Chander, who has only a month-and-a-half left before retirement, has been chosen despite concerns about potential limitations in his functioning due to restrictions imposed by the Chief Secretary on officers with less than two months of service remaining.

In an official note, additional chief secretary (ACS), environment, forests and wildlife, Anand Mohan Sharan has recommended that the meeting of the special selection committee be reconvened to recommend a suitable officer to head the forest department. The ACS had also recommended IFS officer, Vivek Saxena, to be given the temporary charge of PCCF (head of forest force) till the special selection committee takes a decision. 

Saxena is presently holding the charge of PCCF (budget & planning). The special selection committee is headed by the chief secretary.

Environment, forests and wildlife minister, Rao Narbir Singh has told HT that either Vineet Garg or Vivek Saxena could be appointed as head of the forest department. According to the Central Government guidelines for selecting the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Head of Forest Force) in the apex scale of the Indian Forest Service, the parameters for selection include outstanding merit, competence, absolute integrity, and specific suitability for the post.