Karnataka: 40 MLAs across parties write to CM, forest minister over department transfers

At least 40 MLAs, cutting across party lines, and a couple of ministers have written letters to Forest Minister Eshwar Khandre and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah demanding the forest department to revert back to the ‘General transfer/posting’ system from the recently introduced Transfer Counselling Management System (TCMS).

While several of those MLAs acknowledged writing letters to the minister; the copies of which are available with DH, the minister claimed that he has not received any letters.

TCMS is being opposed by both politicians and a section of forest department officials, more specifically Deputy Range Forest Officers and Foresters, as it minimises ‘recommendation-based’ transfer and also corruption. TCMS was introduced in 2022 after cases related to cash for transfer were noticed in the department.

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Environmentalists and senior officials say the recommendation-based transfers that used to take place earlier used to hamper the functioning of the department and also give rise to corruption in the department.

At least two senior officials, of the ranks of APPCF and DCF, said TCMS will curtail ‘subjective’ transfer, where MLAs would have requested the minister to either post or ‘boot out’ an officer of their choice. The officials also conceded that there is a strong lobby within the department, which is working towards scraping TCMS.

TMCS is a software developed by the department that posts candidates based on vacant posts and seniority.

“It is common knowledge that MLAs and politicians, to get officials of their choices, used to write to forest minister. There used to be also instances where officials to be near their ‘homes’ used to get recommendation letters from politicians and get posted to the places of their choice. There are examples of DRFOs and Foresters who are posted in one place for more than five to 10 years. This is not acceptable as other eligible candidates get denied the benefit. To address these issues the TCMS was introduced,” said former Principle Chief Conservator of Forest (HoFF) R K Singh, during whose tenure the system was introduced.

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The system was looked at as a means to weed out corruption from the department. “Money used to change hands earlier to get a favourable transfer and officials to recover this payment used to indulge in corruption. With TCMS we are hopeful that political interference will come down,” said Wildlife Conservationist, who did not wish to be named.

MLAs defend letter

Eight of the 40 MLAs, who have written a letter to the Minister, defended their move and said they have written with good intentions.

Chamarajanagar MLA C Puttarangashetty in a letter questions the decision of the government and says that the administration will be affected in his constituency if officials are posted without his “recommendation”. “Families are getting divided due to TCMS, so I have written a letter to the minister asking it to be reverted back to the old system,” he said.

When asked about the possibility of an increase in corruption due to the old system, the MLA said we can not prevent corruption anyway.

Hangal MLA Srinivas Mane said he wrote the letter to the minister as a group of forest officials requested him stating that the new system is bad. “I was not aware of the content of the letter. If TCMS can help in preventing corruption, then we will ask the minister not to consider scraping of TCMS,” he said.

PCCF wildlife and HOFF Rajiv Ranjan said the decision of retaining TMCS or not has to be taken by the government.