Ahead of Supreme Court hearing, officer transferred out from Rajaji reserve

In a statement, the state government said it had removed Rahul as Rajaji director on September 3, and that the government gave this information to the Supreme Court Wednesday. Following this, the Supreme Court had closed proceedings in the matter.

“The state government had transferred many IFoS officers in the past, in which senior officer Rahul was made the director of Rajaji National Park. But later some controversy started arising on this, which was immediately cognized by Chief Minister (Pushkar Singh) Dhami. Along with this, the Chief Minister had summoned a report on the entire process from the department. As per guidelines from the Chief Minister, the Forest Department removed Rahul from the post of Director of Rajaji National Park on Tuesday,” the statement said.

Banshidhar Tiwari, Uttarakhand’s DG Information, told The Indian Express that the government removed Rahul from the post after the controversy arose. “The state government representative put this information before the Court, and the Supreme Court has accepted that,” he said.

Asked on what grounds had he sought a transfer from Rajaji, Rahul said: “Nothing specific… Though there is no anomaly in my transfer order and it can pass any judicial scrutiny, the process may be quite lengthy and tiresome… (and) I may not be able to do proper justice to my present assignment, which requires focused attention in the multifarious activities of the tiger reserve. So I requested the government to discharge me of the responsibilities of Rajaji.”

On August 29, The Indian Express reported that Chief Minister Dhami had overruled the state Forest Minister and the Chief Secretary to hand the charge of Rajaji TR to Rahul who was removed two years ago as head of the Corbett TR after the Uttarakhand High Court took note of illegal tree felling and construction there.

Following The Indian Express report, Forest Minister Subodh Uniyal contested it, claiming that the decision to post Rahul to Rajaji TR had been taken unanimously – Uniyal was not available for comment Wednesday.

Report in The Indian Express

In December 2021, The Indian Express reported how the state government had started work on a tiger safari in Corbett before receiving forest clearance from the Centre. It highlighted how the state had embarked on a construction spree.

In January 2022, the Uttarakhand High Court directed the state government to take action against officials responsible for the alleged illegal activities. In April 2022, the state suspended two forest officers and removed Rahul from the post of Corbett’s director. He was attached to the office of the Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF) in Dehradun.

As reported by The Indian Express, the first step to get Rahul back in charge of a tiger reserve took place on July 18 when Minister Uniyal, with approval from the Chief Minister, proposed his appointment as Rajaji director.

But the Forest Minister himself resubmitted the file to the Chief Minister on July 24, seeking his approval to maintain the status quo with Rahul and also proposed the name of another officer for the Rajaji reserve post.

This was after a note routed through the Principal Secretary and the Chief Secretary sought to reconsider the decision to post the officer in Rajaji in view of “an ongoing disciplinary proceeding” against him, a “CBI probe” and a “case in the Supreme Court” regarding the alleged illegal activities inside Corbett.

Disregarding these submissions, file notings showed, Chief Minister Dhami reiterated the decision to post Rahul in Rajaji through a handwritten note on August 8. Rahul was posted to Rajaji the next day.