JKNPP accuses forest dept of violating transfer policy norms

The Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers' Party (JKNPP) today accused the forest department of blatantly violating all norms of transfer policy formulated by the state government.
"The forest department has thrown all norms to the wind as more than 80 forest officers, including divisional forest officers and range officers, have been prematurely transferred by issuing two transfer lists in quick successions," JKNPP chairman Harsh Dev Singh alleged.
He further claimed a majority of the forest officers transferred had less than one year stay at their respective places of posting and that it defied logic and rationale to shift them merely on the "whims and fancies" of the authorities concerned.

"The most intriguing aspect of the matter was that the Forest Minister had himself made a statement last month during the course of a departmental meeting that there shall be no pre-mature transfers," he said.
He said despite the categorical announcement having been made publicly, "wholesale pre-mature transfer orders were issued clandestinely without mentioning any reasons".
"It was ironical that all premature transfers were made in Jammu region with not a single premature transfer order of forest officers issued in Kashmir region," he said.