Saturday, 25 February 2023 | PNS | NAINITAL
The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) circuit bench in Nainital has stayed the transfer of senior Indian Forest Service officer Rajiv Bhartari from the post of the State’s principal chief conservator of forests and ordered the State government to reinstate him on the same post. The single bench of justice Om Prakash issued this order in the matter of Bhartari’s transfer and posting of Vinod Kumar Singhal in his place. In the past, while hearing on Bhartari’s petition, the Uttarakhand High Court had directed him to challenge his transfer order in CAT Allahabad while asking the tribunal to also hear the matter soon.
According to the case details, Bhartari had stated in his petition that he is the senior most IFS officer in the State. However, November 25, 2021 the State government transferred him to the post of the State biodiversity board chairman which he contended was unconstitutional. The officer had made submissions on four occasions to the government but these were not heard. Bhartari had contended that his transfer was motivated by political reasons and amounted to violation of his constitutional rights. It will be recalled that Bhartari was transferred when Harak Singh Rawat was the Forest and Wildlife minister. Rawat later left the Bharatiya Janata Party and joined the Congress. It was being speculated that one of the major reasons for Bhartari’s transfer was to allegedly influence the inquiry he had ordered into the illegal constructions and unauthorised tree felling in Corbett national park.
