'Chief Minister is not feudal king'; Supreme Court lashes out at Uttarakhand CM

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday took a strong exception to Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Dhami's decision to appoint Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer Rahul as Director of Rajaji Tiger Reserve. The officer was previously removed from Corbett Tiger Reserve over allegations of illegal tree cutting.

"We are not in a feudal era... The Chief Minister should have given reasoning. The least expected is to give an application of mind with reasons in writing when he differed from his Minister and Chief Secretary," said a bench of Justices BR Gavai, Prashant Kumar Mishra and KV Viswanathan.

The bench emphasised the importance of the public trust doctrine.

"There is something like public trust doctrine in this country, the heads of the public offices cannot do whatever they want when the endorsements are there that he (officer) should not be posted there, despite that, just because he is a Chief Minister, he can do anything?" said the bench.

Senior advocate ANS Nadkarni, appearing for Uttarakhand government, said that the Chief Minister had the discretion to make such appointments and promised to provide a detailed explanation during the next hearing.

The remarks of the apex court came after the Central Empowered Committee (CEC), constituted by the Supreme Court to oversee forest-related matters, submitted a report stating that appointment of the officer prima facie did not instill confidence in the stakeholders involved in wildlife conservation.

The report said that disciplinary proceedings against the officer are still pending and yet he was appointed as Director at Rajaji Tiger Reserve.

It further told the apex court the matter of irregularities in the Corbett Tiger Reserve is still under consideration before the top court and is also under investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The officer was ousted from Corbett Tiger Reserve (TR) after alleged illegal tree felling and construction allegedly under his watch.

Uttarakhand Forest Minister Subodh Uniyal recently said the decision to post Rahul as Rajaji TR was taken unanimously by him and the Chief Minister.

In January 2022, the Uttarakhand High Court directed the State government to take action against officials responsible for the illegal felling and construction inside Corbett. In April 2022, the state government suspended two forest officers and removed Rahul from the post of Corbett's director.