NGT stays Assam order deploying forest personnel for poll duty, flags biodiversity risks

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has stayed an Assam government order directing the deployment of around 1,600 personnel of the Assam Forest Protection Force (AFPF) for election duties, observing that the move raises serious environmental concerns.

Invoking the precautionary principle, the tribunal directed the State government to “desist from violating the provisions” of environmental laws and ordered that “operation of the impugned order… is stayed till further orders”.

In its April 2 order, the eastern zone Bench noted that the plea “raise[s] substantial questions relating to the environment”, particularly in the context of laws governing biodiversity conservation. The tribunal issued notices to the respondents and fixed April 6 for the next hearing.

Assam goes to the polls on April 9 with a single phase of voting, and this is reportedly the first time that forest personnel are being requisitioned for election duty.

The application, filed to the NGT by Delhi-based advocate Gaurav Kumar Bansal, challenged a March 19 directive by the Assam government that required AFPF personnel to assist the police in connection with the Assembly election. According to the plea, such diversion “severely compromise[s] the protection and conservation of forests, wildlife, and ecological systems in the State of Assam”.

Highlighting the ecological risks, the applicant argued that the “large-scale diversion” of forest personnel “significantly heightens the risk of illegal activities, particularly poaching”. The order records that forests in Assam “require constant vigilance and monitoring”, and that the “absence of adequate frontline staff creates a vulnerable environment”.

The tribunal also examined statutory obligations under the Biological Diversity Act, 2002. It noted submissions that the State is required to ensure “conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity”, including “identification and monitoring of biodiversity-rich areas”. Diverting personnel for non-conservation duties, the plea argued, was contrary to “the letter and spirit” of the law.

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The NGT further took note of a Supreme Court direction that “forest staff as well as the forest vehicles shall not be requisitioned for the election purposes”, reinforcing the applicant’s contention that the Assam order was legally untenable.

A group of retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and Indian Forest Service (IFS) officers, along with wildlife conservationists, had raised “serious concerns” over the Assam order, in a plea to the State government as well as the Chief Election Officer of Assam, The Hindu had reported on April 1.