DCF accused of teak scam in Virajpet gets plum posting

Months after the Forest Department charged Y Chakrapani, the then Deputy Conservator of Forests who “betrayed the government” by approving the felling of naturally grown teak trees worth crores of rupees, the official has faced no action but has been rewarded with the “plum” post of DCF, Bengaluru Urban.

According to the chargesheet, the case dates back to April 2022, when Chakrapani approved felling of 66 teak trees though request was for just six trees. Most of the trees were 80 to 100 years old.

The felling request was submitted by M N Ramesh who claimed that he planted the six trees in survey number 76/35 and 76/1 AP1 of Kutta village, Srimangala Hobli of Ponnampet taluk. The applicant declared that the land was “sagu” (“grant” by government), where his rights are limited to agriculture.

According to the rule, the DCF has to verify the applicants’ land records with the Revenue Department. In Kodagu district, an official designated by the deputy commissioner has to clear the file. “Though the land is in Ponnampet taluk, you have sought opinion of the Virajpet taluk tahsildar,” the charge sheet says. Interestingly, a letter from the tahsildar cleared felling in a different village, named ‘K Badaga’.

“The letter did not contain a proper number and other details,” sources told DH.

The DCF also gave transit permits to carry away all the 66 trees, though only 35 trees were felled. Transit permits have to be issued after measuring the quantity of the timber on the site. Officials said failure to verify constitutes grave negligence.

Following a complaint, a part of the timber, valued at more than Rs 1 crore, was seized by the Kutta range forest officer who filed a forest offence case on December 30, 2022. The very next day, the DCF closed the case by imposing Rs 1 lakh as compounding fee (penalty).

Section 79 of the Karnataka Forest Act allows compounding of offences in cases where the value of the property is not more than Rs 50,000. Cases with value above Rs 50,000 have to be taken to the jurisdictional magistrate’s court.

“Moreover, the timber on unredeemed land is government property. The value of the seized material is estimated at Rs 1 crore, how can the case be closed with Rs 1 lakh compound fee? This is a grave violation and loss to the state government,” a senior official told DH.

The charge sheet found that Chakrapani, together with his subordinate officials, “betrayed the state”. DH tried to reach Chakrapani but the official did not respond.

Forest, Ecology and Environment Minister Eshwar Khandre noted that the incident has happened a while ago. “Now that I have become aware of the matter, action will follow immediately,” he said.

Jawaid Akhtar, Additional Chief Secretary for Forest, Ecology and Environment Department, said the file has been sent to the Department of Personnel Administration and Reforms for further action.

Timber mafia along with unregulated commercial development of land has led to largescale change of land use in Kodagu district. According to Global Forest Watch, Kodagu district has lost 887 acres of forest between 2002 and 2021.

A report from experts, including Geological Survey of India and Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre, have identified Virajpet, Somwarpet and Madikeri as among the 23 taluks vulnerable to landslides and recommended protection of forests as a major step to prevent disasters.