The National Green Tribunal on Thursday stayed the operation of an Assam government order to deploy 1,600 personnel from the state’s forest protection force for duties related to the upcoming Assembly elections, The Indian Express reported.

A bench at the tribunal’s eastern zone comprising a judicial member, Justice Arun Kumar Tyagi, and an expert member, Ishwar Singh, issued the direction while hearing a petition filed by advocate Gaurav Bansal against the deployment.

Bansal argued that the order contravened the 2002 Biological Diversity Act and a 2024 Supreme Court order against the use of forest staff for election duty.

Describing the move “bad in law”, the bench issued notices to the Assam government, the environment ministry, the National Biodiversity Authority, and the principal chief conservator of forests and the special chief secretary in the state, the newspaper reported.

On March 19, the state government ordered about 1,600 Assam Forest Protection Force personnel to be deployed for the elections, requiring them to report to the office of the additional director general of police by April 3.

The order came ahead of the Assembly elections in Assam on April 9. The votes will be counted on May 4. The state administration has been reporting to the Election Commission since the Model Code of Conduct took effect on March 15.

The deployed personnel are likely to be back at their regular posts on April 10, the day after voting, the order said, according to The Indian Express.

Arguing against the order in the tribunal, Bansal said that the directive contravened a Supreme Court order from May 2024, which had maintained that forest staff and forest vehicles shall not be requisitioned for election purposes in all states.

Bansal contended that diverting Assam Forest Protection Force personnel from their core duties heightened the risk of illegal activities, including poaching, The Indian Express reported.

On Thursday, the tribunal said: “If we don’t ask the state government to withdraw the order, it will be fait accompli because tomorrow is the last date [for their deployment]. We have to stay it, otherwise it will set a bad precedent.”

It further listed the matter for hearing on April 6.

Earlier letter

On Tuesday, a group of retired civil servants and former diplomats also expressed concerns about the order on the deployment.

The Constitutional Conduct Group said in an open letter to the state administration that the decision to depute Assam Forest Protection Force personnel for polling duty directly contravened legal and administrative norms.

The guidelines of the Election Commission state that territorial forest forces and serving forest officials, including senior officers of the Indian Forest Service, are not to be requisitioned or deployed for duties relating to elections, it noted.

“These instructions [of the poll panel] are designed to ensure that critical ecological protection and forest governance functions are not put at risk during elections,” it said, adding that the group was “alarmed to find that the guidelines have been violated” by senior officials of the state government.

The deployment of the Assam Forest Protection Force personnel is “particularly alarming given the need to protect Assam’s globally significant wildlife, and its endangered species”.

Constant vigilance by trained forest protection forces is critical to prevent poaching and habitat encroachments in protected areas such as the Kaziranga National Park, the group added.