Days after two Indian Forest Service (IFS) officers in Haryana government wrote to their seniors accusing the Additional Chief Secretary, Forest and Wildlife, of abusing them and putting pressure on them in the Bharti land case, the IFS Association has come out in support of the duo and sought action against the senior IAS officer.
In a letter to Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, the association’s secretary general S.P. Yadav has sought “appropriate legal and disciplinary action against ACS, Forest and Wildlife, S.K. Gulati”.
The letter, dated August 3, has also referred to the allegations made by Deputy Conservator of Forests, Faridabad, Renjitha and Conservator of Forests, Wildlife, Panchkula, M.L. Rajvanshi against Mr. Gulati.
“The officers have represented against the misbehaviour and use of unparliamentary/ abusive language by Mr. Gulati, which is highly deplorable and having adverse effect on the morale of IFS officers while discharging their official duties and responsibilities,” the letter read.
Continuous pressure
Speaking to The Hindu , Mr. Yadav said that the case in question was brazen and blatant violation of Forest Acts and the honest officers who did not fall in line were being pressurised. He said that he had sent the letter to the Chief Minister by speed post, but so far there was no response, not even an acknowledgement.
Ms. Renjitha, in her letter addressed to the CM, as well as the association, had accused Mr. Gulati of putting “continuous pressure” in the discharge of her statutory functions in power vested in her under Punjab Land Preservation Act (PLPA), 1900. “I was abused with words like ‘bloody fool’, being ‘crooked’ etc. by Mr. Gulati over the phone. I was also told that I would not be ‘spared’ and ‘would be made to pay’,” read the letter written by Ms. Renjitha, dated July 5.
Mr. Rajvanshi had written to the IFS Association on July 23 accusing Mr. Gulati of abusing him on several occasions and claimed that he was being targeted because he belonged to an underprivileged social group.
More allegations
Another officer, Conservator of Forests (Wildlife, Gurugram) Vinod Kumar, accused him of putting pressure on him to consider areas marked as open/dense scrub or scattered wooded trees in the Survey of India map as non-forest and allegedly threatening him with suspension and serious consequences if he did not comply with his directions on the Bharti land case.
