SRINAGAR: After the Jammu and Kashmir Administrative Services (JKAS) and Jammu and Kashmir Police Services (JKPS), the UT Government has good news for Forest officers, with the way cleared for the induction of 32 officers into the Indian Forest Services (IFoS). The process is expected to be completed within a month.
The Jammu and Kashmir Forest Department has expanded the scope for the induction of officers into IFoS this time, incorporating the Wildlife and Soil Conservation wings of the Department, despite objections from SFS officers.
Official sources informed The Excelsior that the Forest Department, led by Dheeraj Gupta, has undertaken a months-long exercise to induct SFS and other eligible officers from the Forest Department and its allied wings, Wildlife and Soil Conservation, into IFoS. This process is now approaching completion.
“A total of 32 SFS (State Forest Services) and other officers will be inducted into IFoS within a month’s time,” they said.
Following the completion of the induction process by the UT Government’s Forest Department, a meeting will be convened with the Union Public Services Commission (UPSC) and the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) to formally approve the inductions. There are no major problems expected to arise, as there are 32 clear vacancies for the induction of UT officers into IFoS.
“The inductions of SFS officers into IFoS haven’t been carried out for almost 10 years now, as the exercise, though initiated at some point, wasn’t brought to a logical conclusion, which caused eligible officers to continue suffering,” the sources added.
The total strength of IFoS officers in Jammu and Kashmir is 106, with 51 currently in place. However, the inclusion of Wildlife and Soil Conservation Department officials into IFoS is seen as potentially detrimental to their prospects by SFS officers, as they have not completed the mandatory two years of training at Coimbatore or Dehradun, as SFS officers have.
Nonetheless, the Forest Department, which has expanded the induction process to include Wildlife and Soil Conservation Gazetted officials, believes that the exercise is well-thought-out, as all officers deserve induction.
SFS officials argue that in most parts of the country, only Territorial wing officials are inducted into IFoS.
The induction of 32 officers into IFoS will help address the shortage of officers in Jammu and Kashmir, according to officials.
This proposed induction of 32 officers into IFoS follows closely after 27 JKPS officers joined the IPS last week, and an exercise by the GAD to induct 24 JKAS officers into IAS is also nearing completion. This is expected to benefit local officers of Jammu and Kashmir who will enter the All India Services.
In July 2021, 13 JKPS officers were inducted into the IPS after more than a decade, and in August 2022, 17 JKAS officers were inducted into the IAS after 12 years.
