Alok Kumar Maurya DFO exorcized from his office, kept under suspended animation

No one can suppress truth!
Alok Kumar Maurya DFO exorcized from his office, kept under suspended animation
*The issue of illegal felling of Khair trees in Kalidhar, Jammu and other ranges have hit the headlines but DFO Jammu remained unmoved.
*I have already reported in my yesterday issue that something would happen Forest department and it happened.
*This is the start of pruning of corrupt officers from the Forest department as it has been started from middle and the pruning will go upside and down also.
*Who is next to be fired out from his office, his (DFO) subordinates or seniors because there are several officers involved in this money minting game.
*This will work as double engine enquiry and pruning and will prune both sides up and down.
Jammu, May 20:
As a part of pruning of corrupt and callous officials from the Forest department, the Government of Jammu & Kashmir has fired its first salvo and exorcized Divisional Forest Officer Jammu Mr Alok Kumar Maurya IFS from his office and kept him under suspended animation till further orders, due to allegedly dereliction of duties and subsequent non compliance of High Court’s directions vis-à-vis encroachment of Forest Land, besides attached him with the office of Principal Chief Conservator of Forest Jammu & Kashmir.
There were several issues of dereliction of duties against the erring officer Alok Kumar Maurya IFS the then DFO Jammu but his arrogant attitude was the premier reason for not performing the duties. Under his administration, the smuggling of timber and illegal felling of trees was got surge, besides timber smugglers were ruling the roost. The team of Jammu Jottings has worked in depth and reported several incidents of illegal felling of Khair trees but the DFO Jammu instead of taking cognizance of the incidents, he deliberately ignored the reports and sided with the corrupt officers, reasons better known to him.
The issue of illegal felling of Khair trees Kalidhar range, Jammu range and other ranges also surfaced, whereas we time to time published the news so that DFO Jammu may come in action to clog the illegal felling of trees but everything went contrary. He knew each and everything but never acted against wrong practices in his division.
A Government Order No: 59 JK (FST) of 2021 Dated: 19.05.2021, of which a replica is in possession of news agency states that a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) No 25/2017 titled SAVE (Save Animal Value Environment) Vs State of J&K & Ors, CM No. 1456/020 IA Nos. 112017 and 2/2017, is pending before the High Court of J&K and during the course of hearings, multiple orders have been issued regarding encroachment on Forest Lands, wherein, inter-alia, the Forest Department was directed to submit details of the persons in unauthorized occupation of Forest Lands, put up the details of Forest Lands encroached on the website of Forest Department and to take steps to evict the encroachers from the land.
In the order dated 07.10.2020, the High Court was also pleased to direct that – “Let the respondents also file a report before us giving the action taken to retrieve the land from the 50 largest encroachers (in terms of size of the land encroached) before the next date of hearing” following which the status of retrieval of encroached Forest Land was reviewed by authorities on 30th April, 2021 and it was observed that in Jammu Forest Division ‘no tangible action’ has been taken to effectively demonstrate the compliance of the directions of High Court, as regards the eviction and retrieval of the encroached Forest Lands, it says.
Alok Kumar Maurya, IFS, DFO Jammu Forest Division has ‘failed to comply with the directions’ of High Court in retrieving and securing the encroached Forest Lands and evidently, his inaction has further delayed evictions and retrieval of the encroached lands, it says.
“In fact, AK Maurya has faltered in performing his legitimate duties, as Divisional Forest Officer, for retrieving and safeguarding the encroached Forest Lands, including retrieval and restoration of the Forest Lands from the clutches of the identified largest encroachers”, it says.
Now, therefore, pending enquiry into the matter, Alok Kumar Maurya, IFS, (JK: 2015), DFO Jammu Forest Division is hereby placed under suspension for dereliction of duties and for his abject failure to comply with the directions of the High Court, it says. The suspension shall be with immediate effect, it says.
During the period of his suspension, Sh. Alok Kumar Maurya, IFS (JK:2015) shall remain attached with the office of Principal Chief Conservator of Forests & HoFF, J&K, it concluded.