THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The government has decided to drop all the charges against former divisional forest officer (
DFO) of Thiruvananthapuram T Uma. It said the vigilance findings against the official that she had caused financial loss to the government by way of timber sale was a "clerical mistake".
The issue dates back to June 18, 2014, when the
Kollam unit of the
vigilance and anti-corruption bureau (VACB) conducted a surprise check at Kulathuppuzha, and found irregularities in the records of the forest range office. The
VACB director had on March 6, 2015, recommended the government to initiate departmental action against Uma and another official, S Mohanan Pillai, who has superannuated from the service. Later, on the basis of the explanations furnished by the officials and also upon the recommendation of the vigilance director in December 2016, it was decided to drop charges against Pillai, while deciding to go ahead with the action against Uma. The charges against the officer said that in 2013-14, action for outright sale of
Acacia Mangium plantation in
Mylamoodu section of Kulathupuzha range was not done in a transparent manner.
"She had not taken action for sale of timber through government timber depots which might have been more profitable to the government than outright sale and thereby causing a loss of additional possible revenue of Rs 9.27 lakh to the government," the vigilance charges said. The charges also said that though there were clear instructions from additional principal chief conservator of forests (protection) to stop felling operations, the official disobeyed the orders.
The head of forest force (HoFF), later in April this year, wrote to the government that the charges levelled were improper and could not be proven. "There was clerical error in the valuation statement proposed by her predecessor. After correcting the clerical error, the value of timber was calculated as Rs 69.82 lakh while the auction fetched Rs 73 lakh. Hence HoFF has reported that government got more price than the approved valuation," the order issued by the general administration department regarding dropping the charges said.
The HoFF cited that outright sale of timber fetched 5% more than the approved price. Moreover, the officer said had Uma decided to stop felling the trees as per the order, it would have led to a serious contractual dispute as her superior officer had extended the contract for felling the trees for one more month, even after the order was issued for stop the felling. Uma, a 2009 batch officer, is presently on deputation as regional deputy director of wildlife crime control bureau in Chennai.
