Cadre mismatch persists in Haryana forest dept despite transfer, posting orders

GURGAON: The Haryana govt's latest transfer and posting order has reshuffled Indian Forest Service (IFS) and Haryana Forest Service (HFS) officers across forest divisions, training institutes, wildlife wings, headquarters, and Haryana Forest Development Corporation (HFDC).On the ground, however, control of key forest divisions remains largely unchanged. Most frontline forest administration continues to be handled through the same arrangements that existed before the reshuffle. A large number of IFS officers remain in non-field or supervisory roles, even though their primary mandate is territorial forest management. Several officers continue in HFDC, headquarters-linked assignments, training or research posts, or against vacant and interim positions.A closer reading of the Feb 20 order by ACS forest Sudhir Rajpal shows a persistent mismatch between sanctioned cadre posts and actual postings. Several IFS officers are placed in positions officially classified as HFS cadre posts. These include DFO (seed collection), Pinjore, GM HFDC, Kurukshetra, DCF Rewari, deputy conservator of forests (DCF) (training) at Sohna and Pinjore. The order itself annotates these posts as belonging to the state service cadre, yet IFS officers man them. As a result, all-India service officers remain concentrated in monitoring, training, and specialised roles rather than senior territorial field positions.At the same time, the reverse arrangement continues in frontline divisions.HFS officers are posted as divisional forest officers (DFOs) in territorial divisions designated as IFS cadre posts. These include Pinjore, Yamunanagar, and Nuh. The analysis of the order flagged these as senior IFS field postings, but HFS officers continue to hold them after relieving IFS officers.The order also clarifies that DFO (HQ) is an HFS cadre post, despite being a supervisory assignment, pointing to how cadre officers and posts are freely interchanged rather than aligned.The reshuffle plays out against a larger staffing issue flagged by the IFS Officers' Association, which TOI has reported about. Haryana has 16 sanctioned DCF posts, the senior-most field positions meant to be held strictly by IFS officers. At present, only nine of these posts are occupied by cadre officers, with the remaining divisions run by HFS officers, despite trained IFS officers being available and awaiting posting.In a representation to the chief secretary on Feb 19, the IFS Officers' Association said the arrangement violates the IFS (Cadre) Rules, 1966, which require sanctioned IFS posts to be filled by cadre officers. Non-cadre appointments are allowed only in exceptional or temporary situations and require central govt approval if they continue beyond three months. The association said no such approval was obtained.