IRS officer's name for State Environment Impact Assessment Authority rejected, fresh application sought
The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has rejected Haryana government's proposal to appoint an Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer, Devinder Singh Kalyan as chairman of State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA), Haryana.
The SEIAA is an arm of the MoEFCC which has been delegated powers to consider and grant environmental clearance for a category of projects, including mining, infrastructure, industrial and construction.
Kalyan who is the brother of BJP MLA and Haryana assembly speaker, Harvinder Kalyan is due to retire from the service on May 31. An IRS officer from the income tax stream, Devinder Kalyan in April 2023 had managed to get a posting in the Haryana government as principal secretary, excise and taxation, a cadre post of IAS officers. Following his deputation to the state government, Kalyan was first posted as advisor in the state finance department in February 2023. He was recently repatriated to the income tax department and was posted as chief commissioner, income tax (OSD) at Chandigarh.
Rejecting Kalyan's case, the central ministry in a May 14 communication to the state government said that 'the matter has been examined in the ministry and the undersigned has been directed to inform that Devinder Singh Kalyan, IRS-IT does not meet the eligibility requirements of the Environment Impact Assessment (ElA) notification of 2006.'
Seeking a replacement for Kalyan's name, the union ministry's communication signed by Scientist-E, Dr JD Marcus Knight said that the Haryana government is requested to send a complete proposal for the re-constitution of State Environment Impact Assessment Authority and State level Expert Appraisal Committee as per appendix VI of EIA notification, 2006 along with replacement of Devinder Singh Kalyan.
The post of chairman SEIAA in Haryana has been held by former IAS officers over the years. The post became vacant a few months ago and a number of former IAS officers were in the reckoning for appointment.
While no official was willing to comment on rejection of the IRS officer's name by the MoEFCC, it is learnt that Kalyan's candidature was rejected as he did not fulfil the eligibility criteria prescribed in appendix VI of the EIA notification, 2006 with regards to appointment of chairman, SEIAA.
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