The Madhya Pradesh government is adamant on getting Indian Forest Service (IFS) officers appraised by IAS officers in the state. Its intension became clear after it defended its decision in the Supreme Court by filing a detailed response to a PIL. The PIL was filed after the government introduced a new mechanism for performance appraisal reports (PAR) of IFS officers in the state.
The petitioner, advocate Gaurav Kumar Bansal, contended that the government order passed on June 29 ‘fundamentally alters’ the appraisal
process for IFS officers by introducing non-forest officers into the evaluation process.
The government argued that its actions do not violate any regulations. The government has submitted that IAS officers will not be involved in direct evaluation and will only provide reports on a separate sheet regarding works related to the welfare schemes, and not to the forest management or conservation duties.
It negated the contention that non-forest officials lack expertise to appraise IFS officers and argued that if the order were stayed, conservation efforts in the state would suffer irreparably.
The Madhya Pradesh IFS Association (MPIFSA) had also registered its protest against the government’s order by writing a letter to Chief Minister Mohan Yadav in July saying that the new order will demoralise forest officers and jeopardizes the conservation of forests in the state but the BJP government rebutted this apprehension.
Also Read: SC directs MP govt to withdraw controversial IFS appraisal order or face contempt
