This feller’s in real trouble

KOLKATA: Five months after being charged with felling trees in connivance with hoarding agencies, forest guard Gouranga Chakraborty is about to be penalised.
The departmental inquiry against Chakraborty, initiated last September, is about to be rounded up. According to senior officials, Chakraborty is likely to be handed a stiff penalty by the end of this month.
On December 1, the forest guard was asked to attend a hearing. A second hearing is scheduled for this week. It could finally signal the end of the long-drawn inquiry. Evidence produced against Chakraborty was apparently “incriminating enough” to seal his fate.
“The recovery of the chopped branches and a few eyewitnesses along with the police account have made it difficult for him to get away. Chakraborty has been found guilty of chopping trees without permission and trying to sell these off. Indications are that the inquiry will recommend a harsh penalty that serves as an example and an effective deterrent,” said an official.
The report will be submitted to divisional forest officer Nilanjan Mallik. Even though the latter refused to comment on the penalty, he said the verdict would be a fair one. “The inquiry is an independent one being conducted by an official. These inquiries have no deadline and the inquiring authority is at liberty to take as much time as it deems fit. But in this case, I made an exception by asking him to actually hurry it up. We hope to announce the verdict in a fortnight,” Mallik said.
The penalty could range from a simple censure to dismissal from service. It could even be a stoppage of increments, demotion or recovery of the amount Chakraborty is found to have made by selling off the trees. If the verdict goes against him, Chakraborty could appeal to the conservator of forests. That will lead to a fresh round of hearings. “In case the matter is referred to me, I will have to go by the papers and the evidences. The verdict will depend entirely on the strength of the documents,” said Somnath Mukherjee, conservator of forests. – The Times Of India