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| Forest vs Revenue is an ongoing battle; HUD ministry prime villian | | |
SANT KUMAR SHARMA
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, May 13: Tempers soared, as did the mercury, in the Bachan depot of the State Forest Corporation (SFC) on Tuesday when some officials from other ministries visited the premises.
The “outsiders” on the forest department land were not aliens drawn from Mars but officials of the Jammu Development Authority (JDA), accompanied by some from the deputy commissioner Jammu's office.
The highest ranking officer from the DC office was the Assistant Commissioner (Revenue), Inderjeet Bhagat. Bhagat was apparently instructed to measure the land (forest land), presently in possession of the SFC depot, so that the process of “dispossession of the forest land in due course of time” could start, in right earnest.
The JDA officials and the revenue officials were (and still are) armed with a cabinet order passed almost 11 years ago, way back in the year 1999, when the state government was headed by Dr Farooq Abdullah. However, the order has lost much of its sheen and sting due to the Supreme Court judgment in TN Godavarman vs Union of India case.
On entering the SFC depot, the revenue officials insisted on having their way and the former termed them as intruders. Soon thereafter, conversation degenerated into a slanging match, with officials from different departments acting as if they were sworn enemies.
With neither side willing to concede any ground to the rival(s), fracas ensued. Some vehicles were damaged, some officials got thrashed and the police was asked to file a report.
The police, led by SHO of Trikuta Nagar station Abid Rafiqi, did not have much of a choice, according to senior officials, then to take cognisance of the complaint. What followed was the detention of some SFC officials and frenetic calls from Jammu to Srinagar, back and forth.
Through this all, one man who retained his equanimity, though apparently for the wrong reasons, was the Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of Jammu, Gopal Sharma. As estates officer of the forest area in question, it was his duty to come to the rescue of his tenants, the SFC officials, but that was not to be.
Under law, the SFC is a sister concern of the forest department, and any action on behalf of the SFC is thus the responsibility of the territorial DFO. Due to this peculiar situation, the SFC officials find themselves in a bind and cannot act independently.
The less said about the present territorial DFO the better, a couple of senior IFS officers remarked, not wanting to be identified. They argued that Sharma is due to retire on June 30th and is incapable of taking a strong, informed and educated stand on the whole issue.
Elaborating, they said that Sharma has been posted as the in charge territorial DFO of Jammu division, a prime cadre post, at the fag end of his career. For most part of his career spanning over three decades, he had worked in the Integrated Watershed Development Programme (IWDP) and social forestry wings of the forest department, they added.
In these postings, the officials supervise plantation of saplings in their respective areas and hardly ever get the quasi-judicial powers that the territorial staff of the forest department enjoys now, they pointed out.
Due to a sweeping Supreme Court ruling, the forest department officials now have vast powers. These powers were bestowed on the officials by the honourable apex court in an attempt to empower them to protect the fast dwindling forests across the nation.
As the law stands today, if forest land is to be diverted for any other purpose (other than forestry), the department seeking to acquire the land has to follow some set procedures laid down by the apex court of India.
The laid-down procedures make it mandatory for the vetting of the land acquisition by empowered committees constituted as per the mandate given by the Supreme Court. The empowered committees were set up by the court to impartially assess all cases of diversion of forest land for non-forestry purposes.
Due to these provisions, elaborate procedures have been laid down by the apex court for changing the land use pattern (LUP) of the forest department from forests to non-forest usage. However, ingenuity of the officials working in the revenue department has often put paid to these honourable intentions.
Forest after forest thus continue to be denuded of their green gold and environmental damage is the consequence.
In the instant case under discussion, JDA officials reporting to the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) ministry headed by deputy chief minister Tara Chand, have been the prime movers in the whole murky game.
It may take some time for the dust-storm raised by the inter-departmental bickerings to subside. But it has proved the adage that in government, the left hand often does not know what the right is doing.
This applies even more starkly to the National Conference-Congress coalition government headed by chief minister Omar Abdullah as the constituent parties often pull in different directions, due to their political compulsions, and the constant behind-the-scenes tug of war.
With the forest department officials as also the JDA and the revenue officials insisting on having their way, it may be still some time before the dust settles.
This internecine and fratricidal war for the control of prime land in the heart of the city between the HUD and the forest ministry may have far-reaching consequences, for the ministries concerned. And of course, for the masses of the Jammu city.
The land, at a very conservative estimate, is worth over Rs 300 crores, at present market value. It is not an innocent move by the HUD ministry to honestly get an old cabinet order implemented as some would have us believe. What the JDA has set its eyes on is a heap of riches which it wants to acquire.
The steep and slippery ascent the HUD has to climb and overcome is the due process of denotification of the forest land under the law as laid down by the Supreme Court.
As things stand, the HUD and its minions (JDA included) may celebrate a pyrrhic victory over the SFC staff as the revenue staff clap on from the sides. But it will be some time and a lot of effort before the Bachan depot land is actually denotified and falls into the lap of the HUD, if at all.
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