HC relief to forest officer

Bangalore: The Karnataka High Court has come to rescue of a senior IFS officer Dr C.D. Dyavaiah, accused of illegally possessing four elephant tusks at his residence in HSR Layout, which were found during a raid conducted by the CBI’s anti-corruption bureau (ACB) in May. The court has quashed the proceedings against him in the case registered under various offences of Wildlife (Protection) Act.

Justice H.N. Nagmohan Das, who has passed the order in favour of the officer, as however granted time till December 16 to Dyavaiah to submit his reply to an earlier show-cause notice issued by the forest department seeking his explanation over the possession of the tusks.

“After holding an inquiry and considering the explanation to be submitted by the officer, the authority may register a case against the petitioner, if he so desires,” court ordered.

Following the raid and the case registered against him, Dyavaiah took the matter before the high court on the ground the case came to be registered even before he could submit his explanation to the inquiring authority.

“On one hand, the department issued a show-cause notice to explain the possession of ivory pieces and to appear for an inquiry before DCF and on the other hand a case was registered for violation of the provisions of the Wild Life Protection Act against the petitioner,” the petition stated.

The court in its order has observed, “In all fairness the inquiry officer or DCF ought to have considered the explanation and on conclusion of the inquiry, if it requires, he may institute the criminal proceedings. In the present case without providing an oppo­rtunity, without considering the explanation and with­out holding an inqu­iry, the authority has registered the criminal case.”

Dr Dyavaiah, who is of the rank of Additional Principal Chief Conse­rvator of Forests, is currently the Managing Dire­ctor of the Karnataka State Tourism Devel­opment Corp­oration (KSTDC).
Since acquiring or keeping wild artifacts without written permission from the Chief Wildlife Warden is illegal, the presence of the tusks in the home of the IFS officer is presumed to be illegal and an offence under the Wildlife (Prote­ction) Act, 1972.