Job of forest motivator cannot be regularised: SC

The Supreme Court has said the job of a "forest motivator" working under a scheme in Karnataka is not of a permanent nature, so it cannot be regularised.

A bench of Justices Adarsh Kumar Goel and U U Lalit dismissed a plea made by N K Kalavathi for regularising her job on the grounds that she has put in as many as 32 years in rendering her services as a forest motivator at the zilla panchayat office in Shivamogga district.

"You were not appointed to a regular cadre post. You were simply part of a scheme. The post of forest motivator is not a regular one," the bench told her counsel.

Advocate Praneet Ranjan, representing the petitioner as a legal aid counsel, submitted that Kalavathi was on the verge of retirement after putting in 32 years of continuous service.

The court, however, said the job of a forest motivator may be of a nature where a person is utilised for part-time to ensure the people are persuaded to protect the forest.

Kalavathi's plea stated that she was appointed on May 10, 1985, at the zilla panchayat office, Soraba, by the deputy conservator of forest under a scheme called Karnataka Sustainable Forest Management and Bio Diversity Conservation Project.

She said initially her appointment was for a period two years but she continued on the post for 32 years.

She challenged the Karnataka High Court's order of March 7, 2013, which had refused to interfere with the Karnataka's Appellate Tribunal's decision in 2011. The tribunal had found no illegality in rejection of her application by the forest authorities.