Thiruvananthapuram: The person whom the High Court had prima facie found ineligible to hold the post of Kerala Forest Development Corporation managing director has now pushed the Corporation into a minor financial crisis. The man anointed MD, Mr P R Suresh, has gone on leave without handing over the power to sign cheques to any officer in the KFDC. Result: The KFDC divisions are struggling to fetch funds for even basic functions.
On March 31, being the year end, funds in all divisions are routinely transferred to the account of the MD. And then to carry out even basic daily functions, cheques are disbursed from the MD’s office.
“But now that the MD has gone on leave, the KFDC divisions are left stranded. There is no money even for vehicle fuel. The weekly allowance given to workers in the Gavi division has also stopped, causing deep resentment among workers,” a top source said.
The KFDC company secretary, Ms Alma, said that the government had assured that some arrangement would be made in two days to sort out the issue. Further, she insisted that the cash crunch was felt only in “one or two” divisions. KFDC has six divisions: Thiruvananthapuram, Punalur, Gavi, Munnar, Thrissur and Mananthavadi.
The Forest Department has used brazen methods to anoint a lower level official to the post of the KFDC MD. When the Service Rules stood in the way, the Department bent the rules to suit its needs. Originally, only an IFS officer of the level of chief conservator of forests or above was eligible to the post. But the service rules were hastily amended to make even a deputy conservator of forest eligible for the post. The officer, who had actually retired, was brought back to service by inducting him into the IFS cadre in January.
The Forest Department’s stand is that there are not enough senior officers to spare. Reality is otherwise. There are more principal chief conservators of forests (PCCFs), additional PCCFs and CCFs than are required for the Department. Mr Suresh’s appointment is objected to also on the grounds that a DCF’s financial powers are drastically limited, a factor that can stand in the way of KFDC’s development plans.
