New Delhi: Former Uttarakhand forest minister Harak Singh Rawat had overruled the recommendation of the state’s forest secretary to suspend Kishan Chand, division forest officer (DFO) of the Kalagarh Forest Division, despite four different enquiries blaming the officer for the irregularities in the tiger safari project in Jim Corbett National Park.
Moreover, Rawat also pushed for Chand’s posting to the Lansdowne Division and personally inserted his name in the file that was sent to the chief minister for the transfer and posting of forest officers. The former minister did it while knowing that Chand was complicit in the large-scale violations seen in the project.
All these assertions were disclosed to the Supreme Court in January 2023 by court-appointed Centrally Empowered Committee (CEC), which indicted Rawat and Chand for the diversion of forest land for non-forest use during the development of tiger safari in the buffer zone of Jim Corbett National Park.
Started with the consent of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), the project drew criticism for venturing into unapproved construction activity.
Advocate Gaurav Bansal, who first challenged the project before the Delhi High Court in 2021, raised the issue before the top court in 2022 after he found no action was taken on his complaints. On 7 March, the top court came down heavily on Rawat and Chand as it condemned the “classic case” of nexus between politicians and officials.
The court took serious exception to the illegal felling of over 6,000 trees in the area, which, according to its order, was for short-term commercial gains. “The present case depicts a sorry state of affairs of human greed devastating one of the most celebrated abodes of tigers i.e. the Corbett Tiger Reserve,” a bench led by Justice B.R. Gavai noted in its order.
In his petition, Bansal raised doubts about the concept of having a tiger safari project in the buffer zone of a national park, with tigers relocated from a zoo. During the hearing, Bansal pointed to the deviations, such as large-scale illegal felling of trees for the construction of a road, commercial buildings and an artificial pond, inside the forest area.
All of these activities were in breach of the original plan, he had alleged.
In its 134-page judgment, the SC found merit in Bansal’s case and passed strictures against Chand and Rawat.
However, it allowed the tiger safari project, subject to certain conditions, as 80 percent of the work was complete. “Tigers that are injured or in conflict in the core area of the forest with another tiger, as well as orphaned cubs unfit for rewilding and released into the wild, would be relocated to the safari area,” said the judgment.
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CEC report on minister’s involvement
The CEC report, which was prepared subsequent to the court’s direction, made damning observations regarding Rawat and Chand’s conduct in the project. It gave an insight into the unapproved construction of a 90-kilometre road and the illegal construction of new buildings in four Forest Rest Houses (FRHs) — Pakhrau, Moraghatti, Kalagarh and Saneh.
The extensive unauthorised building activity escalated the cost of the project.
According to the CEC report, the tiger safari was proposed to be set up over an area of 106.16 hectares at the cost of Rs 26.31 crore. Against this budget, Rs 433.37 lakh was spent from the state sector, Rs 435.86 lakh from the Tiger Conservation Foundation for Corbett Tiger Reserve and Rs 53 lakh from the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) fund, the report highlighted.
On perusal of official note sheets, the CEC learnt that Rawat had defended the construction of the unapproved buildings by claiming that Chand carried forward the work that was undertaken by his predecessor. The CEC noted that the sequence of events led to only one conclusion — “the former minister was the main architect of the entire matter (deviations).”
This was because part of the project was falling in his assembly constituency.
The minister, the CEC found, visited and inspected the site from time to time, indicating he was aware of the construction of a road, buildings and a waterbody that was not part of the original project. The minister, it averred, posted Chand, an officer “with a dubious past”, with the objective to develop the constituency of the forest minister as a tourist destination at “the cost of forest and wildlife in such a sensitive region”.
Chand’s posting order to Kalagarh Forest Division was issued in the absence of a recommendation from the forest department, which is imperative in such appointments.
The documents showed that Rawat was given the assignment even though the state vigilance department, Principal Chief Conservator of forest (PCCF) and the Head of forest forces (HoFF) wrote separately to the Uttarakhand government, requesting it not to post Chand in any sensitive position as he faced an FIR for “serious irregularities” committed by him during his earlier posting in Rajaji Tiger Reserve.
Rawat also inserted Chand’s name in the proposal relating to the transfer and posting of a forest officer. This was made before the concerned file was submitted to the chief minister on 26 April 2021 for the latter’s approval, which was done a day later.
In October 2021, the secretary (forests) had advised suspension of Chand. This followed a National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) report pointing out “serious irregularities” in the tiger safari project, which Chand was supervising. Instead of acting on the complaints, Rawat justified the construction of unauthorised structures there.
The construction of artificial waterbodies near the Pakhrau forest rest house was justified by stating that they would provide water to the wildlife, said the CEC report.
Overruling the proposal for suspension, Chand was transferred as DFO of Lansdowne Forest Division. Even though the chief minister had cleared it, a final transfer order was not issued. A month later, in November, Rawat made a second attempt to get Chand posted as DFO of Lansdowne Territorial Forest Division, but he failed.
On 24 November 2021, the chief minister reviewed Chand’s transfer order and posted him as the HoFF on administrative grounds. He was suspended only on 27 April 2022, after Rawat demitted from office.
“The then forest minister has directly and brazenly encouraged Kishan Chand to undertake all the illegal activities, as highlighted in the various reports submitted by independent agencies, without the approval of competent authorities and without any budgetary provision,” the CEC noted in its report.
The panel expressed surprise that senior officers preferred to remain “mute spectators” to the “glaring irregularities so daringly” committed by Chand and termed it as “unfortunate”.
Tiger Safari project: How it all began
According to the CEC report, the establishment of a tiger safari was mooted by the NTCA in December 2014 in tiger reserves that experienced an immense tourist influx in core areas for tiger viewing. In compliance with this direction, the Uttarakhand government forwarded its proposal to begin a tiger safari in the buffer zone of Corbett Tiger Reserve, which NTCA approved in 2015.
The total built-up area under the project was earmarked as 4,000 square meters, including a reception centre, souvenir shop, food court, basic amenities and administrative building block, apart from veterinary and quarantine sections, the report highlighted.
The forest advisory committee (FAC) gave the go-ahead to the plan with a condition that all NTCA and Central Zoo Authority compliances would be followed.
The state government was asked to ensure the infrastructure of the tiger safari is created mainly from bamboo and other natural materials.
In November 2020, the total budget of the project was Rs 26.31 crore.
The project came under judicial scrutiny soon after work commenced in July 2021. Bansal moved the Delhi High Court against the illegal construction of bridges and walls within the tiger breeding habitat of the national park. His petition was disposed of in August 2021 with a direction to the NTCA to look into the concerns.
NTCA’s fact-finding committee, based on a field visit, supported Bansal’s allegations and highlighted major irregularities in the project as well as illegal felling of trees.
The NTCA’s report asked both the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest’s (MoEF) regional office and the Uttarakhand government to initiate vigilance enquiry against the officers involved in the unauthorised construction activity. It also asked the state to avoid further work on the project till the excess forest patch diverted for the illegal construction work is not revisited to rationalise the excessive tree felling.
In November 2021, a three-member panel comprising state government officials endorsed NTCA’s findings. It was undertaken following the Uttarakhand High Court order warranting the state to look into the allegations of deviations.
The high court took suo motu cognisance of articles on NTCA’s report.
Meanwhile, two more enquiries were initiated to ascertain the extent of violations. While one was by the regional office of MoEF, the other was undertaken by the Principal Chief Conservator of Forest. The four enquiries revealed extensive diversion of forest land for construction of unauthorised structures and a road.
Chand was zeroed in on as the key person under whose supervision the illegal activities were carried out, which led to financial irregularities as well as administrative lapses.
(Edited by Richa Mishra)
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