'Integrated regional offices not to hit autonomy of bodies'

The Union Government on Thursday assured the High Court that the independence or functional autonomy of regional offices will not be impeded by constituting 19 Integrated Regional Offices (IRO), comprising four independent authorities of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF and CC).

The High Court directed the Union Government and the authorities to file affidavits on the notification.

The MoEF and CC had issued the notification on August 13, 2020, proposing to constitute IROs in 19 locations in the country. A PIL, filed by Bengaluru-based engineer Giridhar Kulkarni, challenged the notification.

The petition said though this was claimed as a mere administrative exercise, it defeats the object and purpose of setting up of the four entities - Forest Survey of India (FSI), National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), Central Zoo Authority (CZA) and Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB).

According to the petition, MoEF said the decision of merger was taken as lack of coordination was found among the regional offices. The observation suffers from a foundational fallacy since the authorities are intended to be independent, the petition said.

In its preliminary submission, the Central Government submitted that the notification was issued after due concurrence of Integrated Finance Division and does not involve creation of additional posts.

The counsel assured that the notification does not intend to impede in any manner the independence or functional autonomy of the organisations.

He clarified that none of the organisations are merged. The organisations, earlier located at only a few locations, now will be in all the 19 locations, including one IRO in Bengaluru.

A division bench headed by Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka directed the Union Government and the organisations to file affidavits in response to the notification. The next hearing has been posted to October 16.