PILIBHIT: Kaushlendra Singh, a former member of the Uttarakhand state wildlife board, has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, asking him to instruct the UP government to frame service rules for constituting a special tiger protection force (STPF) in compliance with the Allahabad High Courts order.According to Singh, a division bench of Justices Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Manish Kumar on February 17, 2020 had directed the Uttar Pradesh government to frame service rules within three months and to file the compliance report but the government has not taken any action.In an email to the PM, a copy of which was shared with TOI, Singh said the inaction has hampered the Pilibhit Tiger Reserve (PTR) which is facing a shortage of field forest force to combat criminals. "The reserve will have no barrier in its way to be shielded by the STPF if only the state government carries out its duty to comply with the HC order. The delay has not only jeopardised the wildlifes future in PTR but has also blotted the government with contempt of court," Singh said.In absence of separate service rules for the STPF in Uttar Pradesh, the cops for this special force are sent on deputation from police or provincial armed constabulary who are governed by their own service rules. This hampers the prime objective of tiger protection and control on wildlife crimes," said SK Mishra, a senior high court lawyer who filed the petition for setting up a special tiger force in 2016.Mishra said following an order passed by the bench in 2017, the SPTF comprising 112 cops was deployed in Dudhwa tiger reserve. These personnel were taken from provincial armed constabulary as the state government, in complete vacuum of any structure of service rules of its own, was unable to constitute STPF with new recruits, he said.Thats why the court ordered the state government to frame its own service rules for recruitment of cops for STPF, Mishra added.The PTR records show that it is now managed by 49% forest staff of different ranks. And 108 of 211 sanctioned posts are vacant.

Stay updated with all the Meerut Latest News headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.