Inspector general of forest (conservation) C D Singh has been transferred to the ministry's Forest Survey of India (FSI) organisation in Dehradun for allegedly fudging an approval note sheet of phase I clearance given by the ministry to a Himachal Pradesh hydel power project to give Phase II clearance, an official said.
The minister also ordered a vigilance investigation against the official who allegedly "misguided" a junior IFS officer at the assistant inspector general (AIG) rank working under him to "process the fraud" for the project, the sources said. However, name of the project is not revealed.
Singh was also member secretary of the ministry's key Forest Advisory Committee (FAC), the mandatory body under the Forest Conservation Act which recommends projects for using forestlands to the minister. Natarajan's action came a day after three non-official members on the statutory FAC wrote a letter to her seeking her intervention to end the "structural deficiencies" of the FAC. Read the full report here.
Source: Times News Network, New Delhi.
