Supreme Court Issues Notice To Chief Secretary Of Andaman & Nicobar Administration In Plea Alleging Contempt Of Court

The Supreme Court, on Friday, issued notice to the Chief Secretary of Andaman and Nicobar Administration in a petition seeking initiation of contempt proceedings for wilful disobedience and violation of order of the Apex Court, which had clarified who could be designated as Reporting, Reviewing and Accepting Authority with regard to officers belonging to the Forest Department.

Senior Advocate, Mr. Rajiv Dutta appearing on behalf of the petitioner submitted that in its order dated 22.09.2000 the Apex Court had laid down that the Reporting, Reviewing and Accepting officer for annual confidential reports of Indian forest service officers would be from within the forest service and only the Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF) would report to the Chief Secretary. He alleged that the Chief Secretary of the Andaman And Nicobar Administration was in contempt of the said order.

A Bench comprising Justices B.R. Gavai, Surya Kant and J.B. Pardiwala made the notice returnable on 14th October, 2022, but it dispensed with the personal appearance of the Chief Secretary.

On 08.11.2001, the Ministry of Environment & Forest, Government of India communicated to the Chief Secretaries of all State Governments and Union Territories about the order of the Apex Court 22.09.2000 demanding strict compliance. The relevant portion of the said communication reads as under -

"One of the directions of the Apex Court was in regard to writing of Annual Confidential report of the members of the Indian Forest Service. The Hon'ble Supreme Court had directed that upto the officers of the rank of Addl. Principal Chief Conservator of Forests the reporting authority has to be the immediately superior officer within the Forest Department. It is only in the case of Principal Chief Conservator of Forest that the reporting authority would be a person other than the one belonging to the Service because there is no one superior to him within the EFS. Therefore, in his case the reporting authority would be a person to whom he reports and who is superior to him in hierarchy."

The petition indicates that subsequently, certain orders were passed by the Chief Secretary of the Andaman and Nicobar Administration in defiance of the concerned order of the Supreme Court.

In 2016, the Andaman And Nicobar Administration had created the Civil Services Board. As per the petition, the Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF) of the Department of Environment & Forests was neither co-opted in the aforesaid Board, nor made part of its meeting. On 19.11.2019, an order was passed whereby previous orders designating PCCF & HOD/HOFF (Head of Forestry Force) as the Principal Secretary (Environment & Forests), were superseded. Again, by an order dated 03.12.2019, a separate Environment & Forests Secretariat was established and by-passing the PCCF & HOD/HOFF, PCCFs were to report to the 'Commissioner-cum-Secretary'. In 2021, another order was issued amending the Reporting, Reviewing, and Accepting authorities in respect of Officers in Environment and Forest Department under Andaman & Nicobar administration, in effect making the PCCF & HOD/HOFF report to the 'Commissioner-cum-Secretary'. The petition argues -

"Thus, the protection of forests and ultimately the environment of the Andaman & Nicobar Islands have been held ransom to administrative conveniences and arbitrary action. This is clear from the fact that the present Head of Department who is a 1985 batch IFS officer i.e. PCCF & HOD/HOFF, would now report to a 2002 batch IAS officer i.e. Commissioner-cum-Secretary. There is therefore a complete disconnect between the ground realities and the decisions being taken in the top ranks. As an example, the Reviewing Officer for a Field Divisional Forest officer (DFO) is now an IAS officer rather than what has been mandated by this Hon'ble Court."

The petition submits that representation had been made to the Lt. Governor about the violation, however, it had not yielded any results. It avers that unscientific management of the Forest Department would be detrimental to the island's environment. The series of orders passed by Andaman and Nicobar administration in contravention of the order of the Apex Court takes away the management of the Forest Department from an IFS Officer, who is trained & an expert in Forest Management, and bestows it on an IAS Officer. The petition contends that the same would have detrimental effects on the conservation of the ecology in Andaman & Nicobar Islands.

[Case Status: Bhavreen Kandhari v. Shri Jitendra Narain I.A. No. 424 of 1998 in WP(C) No 202 of 1995]