Telangana High Court clears Forest Beat Officers appointment

Source: telanganatoday.com

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Wednesday paved the way for the appointment of 1,857 Forest Beat Officers (FBOs) vacating an earlier stay on their appointments.

The latest addition of 1,857 FBOs marks the Department gaining 100 per cent of its staff strength for the first time, including its existence in united Andhra Pradesh. The High Court order couldn’t have come at a better time since the attack on Forest Range Officer Ch Anitha by a mob led by Koneru Krishna Rao, brother of Sirpur (T) MLA Koneru Konappa, at Sarsala village in Asifabad Kumram Bheem district on Sunday, had brought into sharp focus the staff crunch in the Forest Department, particularly at the field level.

Following the High Court’s clearance, the Forest Department said it was taking immediate action to issue appointment orders to the candidates selected for the FBO posts. The Department had previously recruited 67 Forest Range Officers and 90 Forest Section Officers.

A two judge Bench of the High Court comprising Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice Shameem Akhter cleared the decks for the appointment of the Forest Beat officers. Aspirants to the post had been engaged in a long-drawn litigation for implementation of 6-A of the rules requiring Telangana State Public Service Commission to verify from successful candidates if any of them were relinquishing their selection of the posts following which candidates in the waiting list would have to be selected to fill vacancies arising from such actions.

Six candidates, in their plea, had complained to the High Court that the TSPSC failed to ascertain relinquishing of the successful candidates before preparing the final list. They argued that this was contrary to an earlier ruling of a Division Bench. While the Bench presided over by the Chief Justice held that Rule 6-A must be followed, it also reasoned that the entire process of selection should not be stalled at the instance of the plea from six candidates.

The Bench said therefore, the government will keep six posts reserved for the petitioners. It also clarified that on such reservation, if on merits it is found that the six petitioner candidates would not be selected, then these posts can also be filled up.

Following Wednesday’s development, the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and the Forest Department thanked Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao for permitting filling of vacant posts of Range Officers, Section Officers and Forest Beat.