The Supreme Court has strongly criticised Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami's decision to appoint a corruption tainted forest officer as the director of Rajaji Tiger Reserve. This officer was two years ago removed from his post of director of Corbett Tiger Reserve following a High Court order directing his removal and instituting inquiry against many corruption charges.
The three judge bench of SC headed by Justice B R Gavai objected to this appointment by the CM without giving any reasons as to why he did not agree to the adverse comments made by his own officials against this appointment. The judge said that "We are not in the feudal era", and "The heads of executive cannot be expected to be old-day kings".
CPIML central committee member in Uttarakhand Kailash Pandey said in a statement the Dhami government is misusing its powers to protect a corrupt official.
Uttarakhand High Court in January 2022 issued an order to take action against erring forest officials responsible for illegal deforestation and construction inside the Corbett Tiger Reserve resulting in suspension of two forest officials and transfer of Corbett Reserve's director Rahul. The latter was then attached to the office of Principal Chief Conservator of Forest in Dehradun. At present CBI and ED are investigating these officials. Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, bypassing the official adverse notings by the deputy secretary, principal secretary and the forest minister in his own cabinet, now posted IFS officer Rahul to Rajaji Tiger Reserve - as equally important Reserve forest in the state, knowing fully well that the said officer is under investigation of top agencies for corruption charges.
The Dhami government withdrew the order of posting of Rahul after the SC intervention.
Condemning this incident, Indresh Maikhuri, CPIML state secretary, also raised another corruption matter of Dhami government where one of its cabinet ministers, Ganesh Joshi, is accused of amassing property more than his known income. He said that the Special Vigilance Court has asked the state Cabinet permission to lodge a case against Ganesh Joshi of disproportionate property. The Cabinet has not yet given this permission. Only a corrupt government can bypass advice by its own officers and cabinet colleagues, and does not allow the Vigilance department to file a case against a Cabinet minister, added Indresh Maikhuri.
