FRI Dehradun not a recognised institution: DoPT tells Uttarakhand HC

Department of Personnel Training of the Central government, in its affidavit submitted in Uttarakhand High Court has said that Forest Research Institute, Dehradun is not a 'recognised institution'.

The DoPT has filed the affidavit in the High Court in response to the notice issued by the court in February this year while hearing a petition of Magsaysay Award recipient India Forest Services officer Sanjiv Chaturvedi alleging irregularities and forgery by the centre in the selection process of a member of Staff Selection Commission (SSC).

The affidavit dated April 28, 2021, filed by the secretary, DoPT said, "Further, the petitioner (Chaturvedi) did not possess the educational qualification of Post Graduate Degree from a recognized University or Institution."

The notices were issued to the center through the secretary, Department of Personnel Training, Uttarakhand Government and postal department on February 25, 2021, to file reply within four weeks. On April 22, Court gave further time of one week to file a reply and had fixed April 29, as the next date of hearing.

Chaturvedi had applied for the post of member of SSC but was denied participation on various grounds. One of the eligibility criteria was a post-graduate degree from a recognized institution. Officer had submitted 1998 notification of Forest Research Institute (FRI), declaring probation course of IFS officer, in Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy (IGNFA), Dehradun as MSc (Forestry).

Uttarakhand state government after duly examining the application of the 2002 batch Indian Forest Services officer granted the NOC/concurrence and forwarded it to the secretary DoPT on March 19, 2020 with a verification statement about correctness of the same including the validity of his postgraduate degree from the FRI.

Established by Britishers in 1878, FRI is a 143-year-old institute, being one of the oldest institutes in the country and the second oldest of Uttarakhand after the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee which was established in 1865.

The Forest Research Institute was declared as a deemed university by the University Grant Commission (UGC) in 1991.

Commenting on the issue, the petitioner's advocate, Sudarshan Goel, said, "The FRI is the most prestigious institution of this country in the forestry sector and recognized world over for its professional research. Since then thousands of students have been awarded post-graduate, Ph.D. and other levels of degrees and even its works are mentioned in the annual report submitted by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests to Parliament and therefore, an affidavit filed by the Central government before High Court declaring FRI as not a recognised institution will play havoc with future of thousands of students getting degrees from this otherwise prestigious institution."

The petitioner in his petition alleged that his records including his date of birth were forged under a criminal conspiracy to debar him from the selection process of the members of the Staff Selection Commission while another person was appointed without completing the eligibility criteria for the member of the SSC.

( With inputs from ANI )