Kalpetta: The Kerala Forest Department on Thursday issued an order reinstating K Neethu, the range officer who was suspended following the controversial Sugandhagiri tree felling case. She was the range officer of Kalpetta forest range under the south Wayanad forest division and now will be appointed as the range officer at the working plan office in Kozhikode. Her suspension had invited strong criticism from service organisations and environment collectives, who said the move would demoralise the force.
The order issued by Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Administration) Pramod G Krishnan said the officer was suspended based on the report submitted by a special investigation team under the monitoring of Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Vigilance and Intelligence). Neethu, with more than 12 years of service in the forest department, was suspended on April 18.
While a departmental inquiry found that she failed to safeguard the State's interests, staff unions decried the punishment. They pointed out that Neethu probed the tree felling case as directed by DFO A Shajna and ensured suspension of the field staff involved, arrested the accused, seized the vehicles and JCBs used by the gangsters to load and transport timber, and dug out the remains of more than 117 trees illegally cut from Sugandhagiri plantation zone.
The service organisations contended that despite her efforts to bring the guilty to book, she received the same punishment from the department as the field staff who colluded with the timber mafia. Though the office of Forest Minister A K Saseendran had issued an order suspending Shajna, Flying Squad Range Officer MP Sajeevan and Deputy Range Officer Beeran Kutty, in connection with the case, the order was later cancelled.
