4 Karnataka forest officers could be sacked for falling short of requirement — by 1-2 cm

There are very specific height measurements for a recruit assuming the rank of deputy range forest range officer in Karnataka: 163 cm (approx. 5'4”) for men and 150 cm (4'11”) for women.

Indian forest department staff (Representational image) | Facebook

Bengaluru: Four forest officers in Karnataka might lose their jobs just days after getting them because they are 1-2 cm, or less than an inch, shorter than the height requirement.

There are very specific height measurements for a recruit assuming the rank of deputy range forest range officer in Karnataka. Men should measure a minimum of 163 cm (approx. 5’4”) and women, 150 cm (4’11”). However, authorities at an academy told ThePrint that, during training, a man was found to be 161 cm (5 feet 3.4 inches), while two women were measured at 149 cm (4 feet 10.7 inches), and a third at 149.5 cm (4 feet 10.9 inches).

The “discrepancy” in their heights was noted during a training assembly at Dharwad, when Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Karnataka State Forest Academy) Radha Devi found them to be “slightly shorter” than their colleagues.

“I noticed that some of them looked slightly shorter and I asked my officers to check their height,” she told ThePrint. “We found them shorter by 1-2 cm. My job is to provide training and I have also sent my observations to the medical board and the recruitment board. I will follow whatever the medical board decides,” she said.

The four will now undergo a fresh height measurement.

The height and weight measurements of candidates are conducted by medical officers from government hospitals and later submitted to the forest officer in charge.

Training began in June

It was in 2016 that the Karnataka government issued a notification to recruit 329 deputy range forest officers. The candidates selected were finally sent for a 15-month training session last month to various institutes in the state.

Radha Devi has written to all other five forest range officer training centres — at Ilvala, Kushalanagar, Bidar, Chakra and Tattihalli — to see if there are more such cases among the candidates training there.