Show cause notice issued to Uttarakhand forest officer for 'major financial irregularities'

Dehradun (Uttarakhand) [India], July 25 (ANI): The Uttarakhand government has issued a show cause notice to Forest Conservator Vinay Kumar Bhargava for major financial irregularities committed during his tenure as the Pithoragarh forest divisional officer on the basis of a comprehensive inquiry done by Uttarakhand Cadre senior IFS officer Sanjiv Chaturvedi.
The alleged irregularities involving crores of rupees include the construction of concrete structures without prior sanction and approval from competent officials in the Munsyari range of the Pithoragarh forest division in 2019. This involved selecting a private firm for supplying construction materials and making a lump sum payment to it without a tender process or clearance from competent authorities.
It has also been reported that this entire construction, which took place in a Reserved forest, was carried out in violation of the provisions of the Forest Conservation Act, 1980, as no prior approval of the Central Government was taken.
In the inquiry report running into more than 500 pages, and submitted in December 2024 and again in January 2025, Sanjiv Chaturvedi has recommended registration of a criminal case against Bhargav and transferring the case to CBI and ED, for investigation into money laundering in view of alleged offences falling into the category of scheduled offences. He has also cited earlier instances from 2015, when Bhargava was exonerated by the government on the grounds of 'lack of experience' despite charges of financial irregularity being proven in an inquiry.
The unauthorised construction of concrete structures in the Munsyari range of the forest division during Bhargava's posting as the DFO includes the construction of a dormitory, a sales centre for forest cottage industry products, 10 VIP eco huts and a growth centre.
The show cause notice also asks Bhargava, who was Pithoragarh forest division's DFO at that time, to explain the signing of an MoU with the Eco Development Committee, Patalthaud, Munsyari, for sharing with it 70 per cent of the income made from tourism in Munsyari. It has been reported that this MoU was signed in August 2020, while the organisation was registered in September 2020.
It also asks him to explain why Rs 2 lakh was spent on the maintenance and cleaning of fire lines with a length of 90 km, when in fact, there were only 10 fire lines with a total length of 14.6 km in the Pithoragarh district.
The show-cause notice issued by Principal Secretary Forest Ramesh Kumar Sudhanshu asks Bhargava to respond within 15 days, failing which further action will be taken in the matter. The show cause notice was issued to Bhargava on July 18. (ANI)