Senior officers want to curb appointments under ‘influence’; staffers say system will lead to disparity

Mysore/Mysuru: The Karnataka Forest Department’s plan to implement a transfer and counselling system for frontline staff has met with stiff resistance with the frontline staff of tiger reserves and wildlife sanctuaries expressing their resentment.

The Association of Frontline Staff has also decided to submit a memorandum to Chief Minister Siddharamaiah to revoke the order on counselling.

The Department has decided to implement transfer and counselling system under the rules of Karnataka State Civil Services (Regulation of Transfer of Forest Officers and Postings) Ordinance 2016 and 2019. But the said staff allege loopholes in the rules that may result in lack of adequate staff at tiger reserves and wildlife sanctuaries.

Though it is termed as a boon for forest personnel in urban and North Karnataka regions, it is considered a bane for those deputed at tiger reserves, wildlife sanctuaries and dense forests. It may even give rise for disparity, argued some of the frontline forest men.

Only frontline staff

The transfer counselling is restricted for forest watchers, forest guards and Deputy Range Forest Officers (DRFOs), exempting Range Forest Officers (RFOs), Assistant Conservators of Forests (ACF) and Deputy Conservators of Forests (DCF) among other senior officers. This has angered the frontline staff who have been calling the new transfer policy unscientific.

Those working in urban areas will get an opportunity to serve in nearby ranges on understanding with colleagues, but with restrictions.

However, the personnel working at the forest areas in the Old Mysuru region like Nagarahole Tiger Reserve, Bandipur Tiger Reserve, Biligiri Ranganatha Tiger Reserve, Male Mahadeshwara Wildlife Sanctuary, Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary and other dense forests will surely be affected by the inevitability of serving in core areas throughout their service. It is also one of the reasons why the forest personnel are disappointed.

The policy may also discourage those willing to work in the ranges of core areas in Bandipur and Nagarahole Tiger Reserves, Biligiri Ranganatha Tiger Reserve which are dense forests located 10 km from urban areas. The number of personnel will also dwindle affecting anti-poaching and anti-forest crime measures, staffers argued.

Several MLAs have also written to authorities to drop the counselling transfer process, but senior officers in Bengaluru are adamant to implement the new policy, which may prove costly to wildlife in the long run, they said.

For proper criteria

According to senior officials, the Department wants to stop the personnel ‘flouting’ the rules to seek transfers by way of ‘influence’. The counselling system will provide proper criteria for transfers and give the personnel the exact picture of vacancies in the Department in each district or range, they said.

The Department has proposed to keep the personnel for a minimum of three years in a single location before they become eligible for transfer under the new guidelines. 

The Department is also trying to maximise the reach of its officials by cutting manpower in places which have minimal forest cover and transferring them to locations with dense forest cover but facing manpower shortage.

Staffers pinpoint loopholes

Staffers said that there are many loopholes in the counselling system where senior officers including RFOs do not fall in the bracket. Points are specified, but there is no scope for mutual transfer and deployment and also no priority has been accorded for the transfer of husband and wife to a common area. Staffers said that the policy is against Section 2 (6) of Karnataka Forest Act 1963, as it is impossible to seek transfer on a rotation basis. Apart from the disparity in the allocation of posts, there is no scope for natives of taluks to serve on the home turf for 58 years.