Sushil Kumar Awasthi, Director General of Forests, Set to Retire This Month

Sushil Kumar Awasthi, Director General of Forests and a 1991-batch Indian Forest Service officer, is set to retire at the end of this month after completing his tenure at the apex forestry post, according to officials aware of the schedule.

The Director General of Forests heads the technical wing of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, overseeing national forest policy, wildlife conservation programmes and afforestation targets under India's climate commitments. The post also chairs statutory bodies that clear forest diversion proposals for infrastructure and mining projects, giving its occupant significant influence over forest land allocation. The DGF additionally coordinates with state forest departments on working-plan approvals and sits at the centre of the ministry's response whenever forest fire incidents, wildlife conflict episodes or diversion disputes draw parliamentary attention, making it one of the more operationally demanding technical posts in the central government.

Awasthi entered the Indian Forest Service in the 1991 batch and has spent more than three decades moving through state forest departments and central deputations before reaching the DGF post. Officers who reach the DGF chair typically carry experience across wildlife management, forest working plans and the compensatory afforestation framework, and his ascent reflects that conventional career arc within the service. Over more than thirty years in the service, officers of his batch have typically held charge of territorial forest divisions, wildlife sanctuaries and state-level forest policy desks before being considered for central deputation, a sequence that builds the breadth of field and policy experience the DGF post is expected to draw on.

His outgoing tenure placed him at the head of the ministry's forestry wing during a period when forest clearance timelines and compensatory afforestation fund utilisation have drawn sustained parliamentary scrutiny, requiring him to balance conservation mandates against pressure to speed up project approvals. That tenure also coincided with continued expansion of India's green cover targets under its international climate commitments, adding a layer of monitoring responsibility to the post's traditional clearance and policy functions.

His retirement opens the DGF post at a time when the ministry is expected to make a fresh round of senior Indian Forest Service appointments, with several 1990s-batch officers now approaching the seniority bracket from which the DGF is traditionally selected. The succession will be watched closely for its bearing on forest clearance policy, particularly given the pending backlog of diversion proposals that has built up across several states awaiting central sign-off.

Whoever succeeds Awasthi inherits a post under pressure to reconcile rising forest diversion requests for roads, mining and renewable energy projects with compensatory afforestation obligations that have lagged targets in several states, a gap the ministry's own tracking has repeatedly flagged. The incoming DGF will also need to manage the statutory clearance bodies' caseload at a pace that satisfies both project proponents pushing for faster approvals and conservation groups pressing for stricter compliance checks.

Awasthi's retirement takes effect with the end of the current month, officials said, closing a career that began with his 1991 entry into the Indian Forest Service.