A day after Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court `dismissed as withdrawn' the petition of Jarnail Singh, joint director of social forestry department (SFD), the government on Thursday directed Singh to join the Forest Development Corporation of Maharashtra (FDCM), where he has been posted as regional manager on July 13.
Albeit late, the state has asked Singh to follow the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) orders issued on September 18, in favour of R N Rai, the new incumbent. The orders to this effect were received at Singh's office in the afternoon.
TOI had first reported how Rai was kept waiting by Singh, who was delaying handing over the charge for one or the other reason. After the high court had cleared the air of confusion, legal experts blamed the government for the mess. "Had the PCCF office issued orders on August 18, when Rai was granted interim relief by CAT by way of status quo, the matters would not have gone to this extent," a counsellor said.
However, instead of following the CAT order, Singh was given enough time and leeway by the government to complicate the matters, which not only wasted the time of the courts but also brought the official machinery to a standstill, bringing a bad name to the department.
Even now, the government orders have no mention about the interim orders issued by CAT. Interestingly, a contempt petition to be heard on October 9 has been filed by Rai against Singh for disobeying the interim orders issued by CAT. It is learnt that Singh is likely to hand over charge to Rai on Monday.