Haryana: Notorious Officer Vineet Garg Likely to Be Appointed as New PCCF Amid Corruption Allegations
Haryana's department is seen grappling with leadership vacuum as PCCF post continues to remain vacant since over a month. Vineet Garg, a senior IFS officer expected to be promoted, is facing a probe for corruption charges. Garg is facing an inquiry related to a financial scandal where it is alleged that he made improper spending of the department's budget and many such irregularities also.
Haryana: The Haryana government is all set to appoint a new Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) for the state's forest department which has remained inoperative without a PCCF for more than a month, and hence, brings instability within the department.
Vineet Garg, IFS officer belonging to the 1989 batch, is the favourite to become PCCF. He currently is the PCCF (Wildlife) and Chief Wildlife Warden, but it is Garg who has emerged as the most likely candidate for the coveted post despite serious allegations of corruption.
Two Lokpal cases are already pending on Garg. He has been charged with financial mismanagement and also misuse of departmental funds. The vigilance inquiry relates to allegations that he spent the entire department budget in the first quarter of the year itself. In addition to these, Lokpal has cases related to two other kinds of financial irregularities against Garg.
These allegations are not new. The time when Forest and Environment Minister Rao Narveer had accusations of financial mismanagement, he used to face. The state government is still not able to decide whether to appoint a new PCCF or not. All the pending investigations might cause a major hurdle for Garg's promotion.
The former PCCF, Pankaj Goyal, had been superseded and investigated for financial irregularities and was retired on 30 Sept. Jagdish Chandra, IFS 1988, was removed in February due to non-performance.
The Haryana government is likely to pass the final order after assembly session, though the pending queries against Garg have made it difficult for the department and the people to even trust the decision-making process.
