[ High Court of Uttarakhand at Nainital ]

Uttarakhand HC Transfers Corbett Tiger Reserve Forest Officials' Trial to CBI Court at Dehradun

The Uttarakhand High Court transferred two pending trial cases against eight forest officials of Kalagarh Tiger Reserve Division to the CBI's designated court at Dehradun, after a final charge-sheet was filed there on 30 April 2025.

Manaswi Singh — 22 July 2026 — 5 min read

The High Court of Uttarakhand at Nainital has transferred two criminal cases arising from an FIR into alleged forest offences at the Kalagarh Tiger Reserve Division from the Special Judge, P.C. Act, Kumaon Region, Haldwani, to the Special Judge, Anti-Corruption, CBI, Dehradun. Justice Siddhartha Sah, sitting singly, allowed the transfer application filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation under Section 447 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita on 17 July 2026. The court held that since the CBI had already filed its final charge-sheet before the Dehradun CBI court — the court designated by law to try CBI-investigated cases — allowing the Haldwani proceedings to continue would not be in consonance with the jurisdiction vested in that court.

How the Case Reached the High Court

The chain of proceedings stretches back to FIR No. 06/2022 dated 08 August 2022, registered by the Vigilance Establishment, Uttarakhand, Nainital Sector, Haldwani. Two charge-sheets were filed before the Special Judge, P.C. Act, Kumaon Region, Haldwani: Charge-sheet No. 1/2023 dated 07 January 2023, giving rise to Misc. Criminal Case No. 01 of 2023, State of Uttarakhand v. Brij Bihari Sharma, and Charge-sheet No. 1A/2023 dated 21 March 2023, giving rise to Misc. Criminal Case No. 22 of 2023, State of Uttarakhand v. Kishan Chand.

The matter was subsequently taken up in a public interest litigation before this court. In compliance with an order dated 06 September 2023 passed in WP (PIL) No. 178 of 2021, the CBI's Anti-Corruption Branch at Dehradun re-registered the case as FIR No. RC0072023A0008. The re-registered FIR, dated 11 October 2023, brought the case within the CBI's framework under Sections 420, 466 and 467 of the Indian Penal Code, Sections 3A and 3B of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, and Section 13(1)(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.

The Special Judge at Haldwani allowed the CBI's application to be supplied documents and, vide orders dated 22 May 2024 and 21 August 2024, provided all documents listed in H.C.J. Form No. 9, Part IX, filed with both charge-sheets by the Vigilance Establishment.

The Charges and Accused Officials

After completing its investigation under CBI Case No. RC0072023A0008, the CBI filed a final report under Section 173(2) Cr.P.C. before the Special Judge, Anti-Corruption, CBI, Dehradun, on 30 April 2025. The charge-sheet names eight accused public servants, all connected to the Kalagarh Tiger Reserve Division in Lansdowne:

Shri Kishan Chand, the then Deputy Conservator of Forests/Divisional Forest Officer, Kalagarh Tiger Reserve Division
Shri Brij Bihari Sharma, the then Forest Range Officer, Sonanadi & Pakhro Range, Kalagarh Tiger Reserve Division
Shri Rahul, the then Director, Corbett Tiger Reserve, Ramnagar, Nainital
Shri Akhilesh Tiwari, the then Deputy Conservator of Forests/Divisional Forest Officer, Kalagarh Tiger Reserve Division
Shri Mathura Singh Mavdi, Deputy Ranger, Pakhro Range, Kalagarh Tiger Reserve Division
Shri Surendra Singh, the then Forester/Van Daroga, Pakhro Range, Kalagarh Tiger Reserve Division
Shri Sandeep Arya, the then Forest Guard, Sonanadi Range, Kalagarh Tiger Reserve Division
Shri Rajesh Rawat, the then Wireless Operator (daily wages), Pakhro Range, Kalagarh Tiger Reserve Division

The offences charged span multiple statutes: Sections 120-B, 218, 409, 467 and 471 of the Indian Penal Code; Section 13(2) read with Section 13(1)(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988; Sections 26(1)(f) and (h) of the Indian Forest Act, 1927; Section 2(iv) read with Sections 3A and 3B of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980; and Sections 27(2)(a), 27(4) and 35(6) read with Section 51 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.

The CBI's Argument for Transfer

Counsel for the CBI, Mr. Piyush Garg, characterised the transfer application as formal in nature. The submission was straightforward: the Special Judge, Anti-Corruption, CBI, Dehradun, is the court designated to try cases investigated by the CBI, and the final charge-sheet had already been filed there. Allowing the two Haldwani cases to proceed separately risked procedural inconsistencies and jurisdictional conflicts. On that basis, the CBI sought transfer of both Misc. Criminal Case No. 01 of 2023 and Misc. Criminal Case No. 22 of 2023 to the Dehradun CBI court.

The Court's Reasoning

Justice Siddhartha Sah accepted the CBI's position without reservation. The court recorded that the transfer sought was purely formal in nature and that it was not disputed that the final charge-sheet had already been filed before the CBI court at Dehradun, which was the competent court with jurisdiction to try cases investigated by the CBI.

The critical finding was jurisdictional: continuing the two cases before the Haldwani court “would not be in consonance with the jurisdiction vested in the CBI Court at Dehradun.” Once the CBI concluded its investigation and filed a final report before the designated court, the continuation of parallel proceedings before the earlier Vigilance Establishment-driven court became jurisdictionally untenable. The court did not require any further contest on merits, treating the jurisdictional position as settled by the statutory designation of the Dehradun CBI court.

Outcome

The court allowed the Criminal Miscellaneous Application. Misc. Criminal Case No. 01 of 2023, State of Uttarakhand v. Brij Bihari Sharma, and Misc. Criminal Case No. 22 of 2023, State of Uttarakhand v. Kishan Chand, stand transferred from the Court of the Special Judge, P.C. Act, Kumaon Region, Haldwani, to the Court of the Special Judge, Anti-Corruption, CBI, Dehradun, for disposal in accordance with law.