New Delhi, May 15 (IANS): The Supreme Court on Wednesday summoned the personal presence of the Chief Secretary of Uttarakhand on May 17 over the alarming rise of forest fires in the state.

A bench headed by Justice BR Gavai came down heavily on the state government for underutilization of available funds to tackle the issue. Expressing displeasure on the number of vacant positions, the Bench, also comprising Justices SVN Bhatti and Sandeep Mehta, remarked that workforce is not available to control forest fires and sought to know the timeline to fill the existing vacancies in the forest department. It noted that the Election Commission of India has already exempted requisition of forest staff and vehicles for election and allied purposes in Uttarakhand.

During the hearing, the apex court also expressed concern on non-payment of salary of contractual staff in the forest department. The matter will be taken up for further hearing on May 17.