Forest minister Shibu Baby John
He said govt has no intention to shield anyone. Kottayam : The Muttil tree-felling case is one of the biggest scams the state has seen, forest minister Shibu Baby John said on Friday.
The minister said the forest department had earlier seized 108 trees felled in connection with the case, and that nine of the felled trees had been confirmed as not sourced from pattayam land. Rejecting claims that the case had collapsed, the minister said high-value trees were among those removed, and that genuine farmers had suffered as a result of the alleged plunder carried out by certain individuals.
John told reporters in Pathanamthitta that the actual facts behind the court’s rejection of the earlier chargesheet in the case were being examined, and that an inquiry would determine whether the lapse was deliberate. He said a report had been sought from the head of the state forest department. The minister said a review found that certain errors had crept into the rejected chargesheet, which was initially assessed as a clerical mistake; whether it was intentional would be verified, he said. Smuggling out high-value trees in this manner was unacceptable, he said, adding that the circumstances behind the issuance of the controversial revenue order underlying the case also warranted investigation. The remaining chargesheets in the case would be filed soon, he said. The minister said lapses, negligence and failures in both the investigation and the filing of the chargesheet would be reviewed, and that action would be taken against officials found culpable, while those who had brought the case to light would be protected. He said the state had already submitted Oommen V Oommen committee’s study report seeking such exclusion, and that a fresh report citing it would be sent to Centre. Referring to criticism over ministerial foreign travel, he said there was nothing wrong with it, adding that he too would travel abroad in two weeks, and questioned why the matter was being turned into a controversy.
He described as unfortunate certain reports suggesting he had changed his stance in the case, calling them a distortion of facts. On the ecologically sensitive zones issue, the minister reiterated the state govt’s position that inhabited areas should be fully excluded from such zones.