IFS officers depleting fast in J&K, 17 retiring in 2 years

600 Forestry grads unemployed even after J&K got 40 ACFs after 27 years

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

SRINAGAR, May 29: Even as no recruitment of Forestry trained officers through proper channel has taken place in the last 27 years, 600 Forestry graduates continue to be unemployed through successive regimes, Jammu & Kashmir state’s Forest and Forest-related developments will be almost completely dominated by unqualified and untrained officials in near future. With everybody being “incharge” of senior positions, in violation of all service rules and Supreme Court directions, as many as 17 of the senior most IFS officers are reaching superannuation in the next 24 months.

In absence of Forestry trained officers for many years, unqualified and junior officials are enjoying prize postings with the blessings of their patrons in politics, bureaucracy and other institutions. While a number of Foresters are functioning under the so-called stop gap arrangement (completely banned by Supreme Court) as Range Officers and ROs are posted as “incharge ACFs”, ACFs are manning the positions of full-fledged DFOs. Even a number of very junior ROs, enjoying political clout, stand posted as “incharge ACFs” and, in absence of DCFs and selection grade IFS officers, they have been functioning as DFOs.

Without any explanation from successive governments in the last over a decade, 400 to 600 Forestry graduates and post-graduates continue to be unemployed. One Dr Tariq, who has completed his Ph D in Forestry has been working against monthly remuneration of Rs 3000 to Rs 42oo in J&K State Forestry Research Institute. Another person, with Ph D in Forestry, has been trying hard to get appointed as Forest Guard but has failed continuously in two or three attempts. Over a hundred boys and girls, with B Sc or M Sc in Forestry and related subjects, have taken far inferior jobs in private sector. Few have been lucky enough to get a class 4^th government job or the post of a Rehbar-e-Taleem.

There is no official data available but informed sources insist that over 70 boys and girls with graduation or post-graduation in Forestry have already crossed their age-bar of 37 years and thus lost every possibility of getting a job in the subject they have been trained after spending huge amounts of money.

Official sources revealed that hundreds of posts have fallen vacant in Forest Department, Social Forestry Department, Wildlife Protection Department, State Forest Corporation, Forest Protection Force, SFRI and about a dozen Forest and environment related projects. Since continuous working as ACF for 8 years is a must and no recruitment of ACFs has taken place since 1984, Government of J&K has no State Forest Service officers (SFS) for induction into IFS.

With nearly 50 posts of Divisional Managers being vacant for the last 8 to 12 years, there has been a nearly 20-year-long recruitment holiday in J&K SFC. Senior officers are reaching superannuation and the Corporation will be fully manned by unqualified and untrained officials in the next years. Dr Farooq Abdullah’s government had created Forest Protection Force (FPF) in December 1996 but none of the 60 posts of Assistant Directors (ADs), equivalent to Range Officers in Forest Department, has been filled up in the last 15 years.

After a long recruitment holiday, J&K Public Service Commission (PSC) has selected 23 Range Officers, just 9 in Open Merit whose  appointment as RO Grade-1 has been stayed by High Court. PSC has also selected 40 candidates---28 from Jammu and 12 from Kashmir---who have been appointed as ACFs after a gap of 27 years.  

According to official sources, total strength of IFS officers in J&K stands at 105 but not more than 91 have been in place for the last several years. Among the regular recruit IFS officers, more than 25 have been enjoying their Central deputations.

With the senior IFS cadre depleting fast, as many as 17 officers, from the rank of Conservator of Forest (CF) to Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF), are due to retire from service in the next 24 months. Three of the senior IFS officers, namely Maulvi Shafat Ahmed, S K Khajuria and Shameem Mohammad Khan, have already retired in the last five months of current year.

Those reaching superannuation in 2011 include Project Chief of IWDP Irshad Ahmed Khan (31-08-2011), PCCF Mr R D Tiwari (31-12-2011), CCF Planning & Projects in PCCF’s office Mr Shivendra P Arya (30-09-2011) and General Manager in SFC Mr B L Zadoo (30-11-2011).

1975-batch IFS officer and former PCCF, Jaddish Kishwan, who is currently on central deputation and posted as Additional Director General Wildlife, is due to retire from service on 30-09-2012. Others retiring in 2012 include Director SFRI Mr Pritam Chand Kapur (29-02-2012), CCF Jammu Mr S C Sharma (30-04-2012), former MD of SFC, Abdul Qayoom Khan (29-02-2012), who is currently attached to administrative department, GM SFC Mr Asgar Anayatullah (30-04-2012), GM SFC Mr Nisar Hussain Hakeem (31-10-2012) and Joint Director IWDP Mr V K Raina (31-12-2012).

Six more senior IFS officers of J&K cadre are reaching superannuation in the first five months of 2013. They include Chairman of State Pollution Control Board Mr Lal Chand (31-01-2013), newly appointed Director Social Forestry J&K Mr Mohammad Shafeeq Khan (31-05-2013), CCF Kashmir Mr Manzoor Ahmed (30-04-2013), Regional Wildlife Warden Kashmir Mr Hafizullah Sidiquee (31-05-2013), Nodal Officer with State PCB Mr Narendra Singh Kala (31-01-2013) and Project Coordinator North Jhelum Mohammad Manzoor Hussain (31-05-2013).

With all these retirements, key posts in high, middle and lower rungs in Forest and Forest-related departments will be falling vacant and consequently given away to unqualified, untrained or junior officials on the basis of their political and bureaucratic clout.

Everybody from Chowdhary Mohammad Ramzan to Pirzada Ghulam Ahmed Shah to Sofi Mohiuddin to Tariq Hameed Qarra to Qazi Mohammad Afzal to the incumbent Mian Altaf Ahmed has been saying that Government was doing its best to protect forests and appoint trained graduates and post-graduates. None of them has lived upto expectation of hundreds of trained and qualified candidates who have been forced to remain unemployed.

END