Committee asks Uttarakhand forest department to withdraw order relieving staff for census work

The central empowered committee (CEC) has urged the Uttarakhand forest department to withdraw its recent order relieving forest personnel from departmental duties for census-related work.

The committee also asked the forest department to explain the circumstances under which the latter had issued the order, according to a letter released by the CEC on Wednesday.

''It is also requested that the circumstances under which the said OM (office memorandum) came to be issued, despite the aforesaid directions of the Hon'ble Supreme Court, may please be clarified,'' said the letter.

The Supreme Court, in a 2024 ruling, told all states that forest staff and forest vehicles cannot be requisitioned for election purposes or any other purposes, such as the Char Dham Yatra.

The Uttarakhand forest department on May 14 issued an order to all forest conservators and divisional forest officers of the state, asking them to relieve those forest personnel who had been deployed as enumerators and supervisors from office hours promptly.

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