No Poll Duty For Forest Staff, Orders Green Tribunal
Forest officials in Assam patrol forests on the outskirts of Guwahati (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)
- Assam government deployed 1,600 personnel from Assam Forest Protection Force (AFPF) for the April 9 assembly elections.
- Now, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has stayed the order of the Assam government.
- The issue garnered attention when a group of retired bureaucrats and conservationists across the country wrote to the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the Assam government asking to withdraw the order.
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) stayed a recent Assam government order directing the deployment of about 1,600 personnel from the Assam Forest Protection Force (AFPF) for election duty ahead of April 9 state assembly polls.
On March 19, an order from the state’s Environment, Forest and Climate Change Department directed forest personnel to assist the state police during the elections and return by April 10.
The issue garnered attention when a group of retired bureaucrats and conservationists across the country wrote to the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the chief secretary of Assam seeking immediate withdrawal of the order.
Amid the criticisms, Delhi-based advocate Gaurav Kumar Bansal filed a petition before the NGT on April 1 and argued that the order is against the provisions of a 2024 Supreme Court order against the use of forest staff for election duty.
It also states that diverting forest personnel from their primary duties of protection and conservation of biological resources goes against the Biological Diversity Act, 2002, in letter and spirit.
During the hearing of the matter on April 2, NGT’s Eastern Zone bench stayed the March 19 order till further orders.
Opposing the order
Opposing the Assam government’s order, a group of retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and Indian Forest Service (IFS) officers and conservationists sent a letter to the Chief Secretary of Assam, Chief Election Officer/Commissioner of Assam and Special Chief Secretary, Environment, Forest and Climate Change Department, Government of Assam.
The signatories mentioned that the Assam government directive violated two orders — one from the Supreme Court of India and the other from the Election Commission of India.
The Election Commission of India, in 2023, had exempted listed senior officials from the Indian Forest Service (IFS) and territorial staff of forest department from election duties. In 2024, the Supreme Court had directed that “in all the States the forest staff as well as the forest vehicles shall not be requisitioned for the election purposes.”
Speaking to Mongabay-India, Prakriti Srivastava, former PCCF, Kerala, who was one of the people who opposed the order said, “The order to deploy AFPF personnel is shocking because it shows that they are not serious about conservation. When I was in Kerala, forest personnel were sometimes requisitioned during elections. The order used to come from the Collector but if we said that forest staff is required (for forest department work), the order used to get revoked.”
Regarding the letter sent to the election commission and the Assam chief secretary, she said, “We also got no reply from the Special Secretary or the Chief Election Officer to our letter. If this order is eventually implemented, it will set a very bad precedent.”
The Assam Forest Protection Force was constituted under the Assam Forest Protection Force Act 1986, to protect and secure the forests, forest produce and wildlife of Assam. It currently has three battalions.
