HYDERABAD: The Telangana state forest department has recently proposed to amend the State Forest Act of the united Andhra Pradesh as it has found some of its provisions being a hurdle to recruiting to state-level posts in the department.
According to officials in the department, the government is not happy with the Act as the AP Subordinate Service Rules, 2011, which are still being followed by the Telangana government, allow candidates from Andhra Pradesh to apply for jobs in the Telangana forest department under non-local quota for which 20 pc of the total vacant posts are allotted.
“As the Forest Act of united AP covers all 23 districts of the both states, the Telangana government wants to make amendments to the Act to restrict its cover only to the ten districts of Telangana state,” said PK Sharma, special principal chief conservator of forest and chief wildlife warden, Telangana. The proposed amendments will not allow candidates from other states, including AP, to participate in the recruitment process.
However, the Telangana government just cannot make any amendment to the Act of the united AP without formally adopting it, according to the AP Reorganisation Act. After realising the complexity of the process, the forest officials in November submitted a proposal to the Telangana government to begin the process of adoption. But it is in progress.
Currently, the recruitment of all posts in the Telangana forest department is on hold as the state government does not want to follow the Act without making the modifications. It is also planning to make several other modifications to the Act after adopting it. The last recruitment notification from the united AP’s forest department was issued in February. But the process was postponed due to the model code of conduct during general election.