The Uttarakhand High Court has issued a contempt notice against the Chief Secretary, N Ravishankar, since the Chief Minister failed to take any action on the detailed report prepared by the State administration on serious allegations leveled against the principal chief conservator of forests, SS Sharma.
According to the PIl petitioner, PFA Uttarakhand member secretary Gauri Maulekhi, in a report presented by theState administration before the Chief Minister, Harish Rawat, in June 2014, it was clearly stated that during his tenure as the chief wildlife warden, Sharma had actively prevented wildlife offences from being investigated and had sheltered and patronised poachers of nationaldisrepute.
The report had recommended that Sharma be placed under suspension pending a high level vigilance inquiry.Hearing on the PIl theHC had in May this year directed the principal secretary, Forests to inquire into allegations against Sharma and prepare a note on it, based on which a decision was left on the discretion of the CM.The note was prepared in June but no action has been taken yet. “We had raised the matter in the PIl last year along with the necessity to make a strong anti poaching cell in Uttarakhand. Not only was this not done, despite clear instructions from the High Court, but also repeated requests to bring the PCCF under the scanner went unheeded. In the notice issued to the chief secretary on Friday, Ravishankar has been given three weeks to respond,” said Maulekhi.