THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTI CE NAMAVARAPU RAJESHWAR RAO WRI T PETI TI ON No.16657 OF 2025

ORDER:

This Writ Petition is filed challenging the action of respondent No.6 in issuing the Revised Recovery Proceedings vide Proc.No.FORM-V/2024-25/K3, dated 15.05.2025, directing recovery of an amount of Rs.10,21,584/- (Rupees Ten Lakh Twenty One Thousand Five Hundred Eighty Four only) from the salary of the petitioner in 96 monthly instalments of Rs.10,642/- each, commencing from May 2025, as being arbitrary, illegal, and violative of principles of natural justice.

2. Heard Sri Gundrati Raman Goud, learned counsel for the petitioner, and the learned Government Pleader for Services–I for the respondents. Perused the material on record.

3. The case of the petitioner is that while discharging his duties as Forest Beat Officer in Khanapuram and Kaddam Ranges, he booked several forest offence cases including both detected (Offence Reports – ORs) and undetected offences (Undetected Offence Reports – UDORs) and issued Preliminary Offence Reports (PORs) accordingly. As per departmental procedure and the Telangana Forest Offences, Compounding and Prosecution Rules, 1969, in undetected cases where offenders are not identified, the seized timber is to be transported to the Government Timber Depot (GTD) under valid permit and invoice. The petitioner's role is limited to issuing PORs and ensuring custody of the timber, while it is the responsibility of the Forest Section Officer or Forester to issue the transit permit and oversee transportation. However, due to shortage of ministerial staff for over two decades, the timber return records in Form-V were not properly maintained, and the petitioner is being wrongly held responsible for long-pending timber entries caused by administrative lapses beyond his control. As per the Telangana Forest Produce Transit Rules, 1970, such timber must be moved to GTD with Forest Permit in Form-II, and the depot Forester must acknowledge receipt based on log-wise details in the invoice.

4. It is further submitted that respondent No.6/Forest Divisional Officer issued revised recovery orders vide proceedings No.FORM- V/2024-25/K3 dated 15.05.2025 directing recovery of Rs.10,21,584/- from the petitioner's salary in 96 instalments of Rs.10,642/- per month, alleging failure to transport timber in certain POR/UDOR cases covering 526 logs (50.845 cmt). The petitioner submits that the records pertain to the year 2008 and earlier, and after receiving the impugned proceedings, he made efforts to trace invoices and has already identified specific PORs showing timber was transported to GTD, Khanapur and received by the Forester, including POR No.4177/168 dated 21.01.2013 (76 logs) and POR No.2191/88 dated 21.05.2012 (7 logs). He intends to verify the remaining records from October 2025 onwards due to current monsoon work pressure. The petitioner, being a low-paid employee, would suffer irreparable financial hardship if the impugned recovery is enforced without granting time for full verification. Aggrieved by the same, the petitioner filed the present Writ Petition.

5. Learned Government Pleader for Services–I, appearing for the respondents, placed on record a copy of the written instructions and the relevant portion of the said written instructions reads as under:

“Further, it is submitted that almost eight months’ time was given to the petitioner to transport the felled timber in his custody, as per FORM-V. However, he did not utilize this opportunity. Hence, there is no need to grant the petitioner an additional 6 to 9 months for this issue.”

6. On the other hand, learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that the petitioner is ready to clear all the issues related to the transportation of timber as per FORM-V within a period of four months. However, he seeks the cooperation of the respondent authorities in providing the necessary records to facilitate the finalization of the said issue.

7. In view of the above submissions, this Court