Despite all political and legal opposition, the Assam government has extended the tenure of controversial retired IFS officer MK Yadav for the third time in a row. Yadav has been appointed as Special Principal Secretary, Department of Environment, Forests and Climate Change for another six months. The state cabinet approved the decision on 13 May On May 14, the Secretary of the Personnel Department, Shimanda Kumar Das It has issued formal instructions. In this important post, Yadav will get back all the administrative and financial powers of the state forest department, including the vast forest area.
Yadav will become Principal Chief Conservator of Forests in February He retired as a physician. The Appointments Committee of the Union Cabinet then rejected his request for extension. However, the Assam government ignored the central directive and appointed him on a one-year contract basis. Later he was reassigned and now for the third time entrusted with the same important duties. The officer, who is known to be close to Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sharma, has been appointed repeatedly despite having the same government at the Center and the state. Normally, only senior IAS officers are appointed to the post of chief secretary, but the government has appointed a retired officer to the post citing a 2018 notification.
Opposition Congress and various organizations have strongly criticized this decision of the government. They alleged that it is illegal to give full financial and administrative powers to a retired officer while the code of conduct of elections is in force during elections. Controversy intensified in March after the Election Code of Conduct came into effect ahead of the April 9 Assam Assembly elections. Critics expressed deep concern over Yadav’s continued power during the election.
In a letter to the Election Commission (EC), social activist Dilip Nath argued that retired officers are considered “non-cadre” and therefore should not be in post to serve the All India Service officers. He also questioned whether a retired officer can continue to exercise administrative and financial authority while the code of conduct is in force and urged the Election Commission to review the legality of the entire system. He said that the government’s move to appoint retired officers violated the rules.
There have been several serious allegations against MK Yadav in the past. He was accused of using the lands of Damchera and Geliki on the Assam-Nagaland border in Hailakandi without the permission of the Central Government while he was the Chief Conservator of Forests. The Union Environment Ministry has directed the Assam Government Forest Department to take legal action in this regard. Besides, the National Green Authority or NGTO has monitored these issues. The NGT on April 2 suspended Yadav’s order to deploy 1,600 forest protection personnel for election duty.
Apart from the forest department controversy, MK Yadav was embroiled in controversy during the 2009 Lok Sabha elections. At that time, he was the Managing Director of Assam Electronics Development Corporation Limited-Amtron, a state-owned company that operates EVM machines. The opposition Assam Constituent Assembly rigged the EVM machine. Although the allegations were not substantiated, these old things came back into the spotlight after he was reinstated in the forest department. Environmental activist Rohit Chowdhury strongly condemned the government’s move, saying the government is rewarding MK Yadav instead of taking action against him. He expressed concern that this would lead to further destruction of Assam’s forests and wildlife and increase in illegal activities.
