RAIPUR: Despite penalties imposed on Indian Forest Service (IFS) officers, public information officers (PIOs) of the Chhattisgarh forest department are continuing to treat directives from the State Information Commission with disregard.
Many officials, after facing penalties, often resort to seeking relief from the High Court, a trend that has drawn concern from the Commission.
In a recent case, the Commission expressed its disappointment after finding a Divisional Forest Officer (DFO)-rank IFS official allegedly ignoring its directive and acting negligently. The Commission recommended action against him, following which the state forest department issued a notice initiating disciplinary proceedings under the All India Services (Conduct) Rules, 1969. The officer was asked to submit a reply within 15 days.
The matter began in January 2020 when an applicant, Nitin Singhvi of Raipur, sought documents from the Mahasamund Forest Division, approximately 80 km from Raipur, regarding loss of lives and property caused by wild elephants.
At the time, the PIO-cum-DFO Mayank Pandey responded that the documents were voluminous and Singhvi would need to inspect them personally, after which the required documents would be provided free of cost.
Dissatisfied with the response, Singhvi approached the State Information Commission. During a hearing in February 2021, the Commission made it clear that an applicant cannot be compelled to inspect documents in person to receive the information.
It directed the PIO to provide the requested documents free of charge. Additionally, it instructed the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests to recover the cost of the documents from the concerned officer and deposit the amount in the government treasury.
In 2021, IFS officer Pankaj Rajput replaced Pandey as DFO and informed the Commission that he had sought the forest department’s opinion on filing an appeal in the High Court against the Commission’s decision, and that 15 days were needed to take further action.
The Commission asked the officer to submit a stay order from the High Court if he wished to be exempted from appearing, but he failed to do so in two subsequent hearings held in September 2021 and April 2022.
Expressing displeasure, the Commission stated that the failure to submit the stay order had unnecessarily prolonged the case. It recommended that the state government initiate disciplinary action against IFS officer Pankaj Rajput.
A show-cause notice was issued to him for “negligence in duties” in violation of Rule 3 of the All India Services (Conduct) Rules, and he was given 15 days to respond.