Guwahati: The Assam government’s claim of suspected “large-scale irregularities” in the disposal and auction of seized red sanders has come under serious question, with a Forest department report submitted to the government itself showing that the entire bidding process was carried out through a series of government approvals and prescribed procedures when M.K. Yadav was the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) and Head of Forest Force (HoFF).
The irony is hard to miss: MK Yadav, who was at the helm of the Forest Department when the red sanders disposal process was initiated, approved and taken forward, is now the Special Chief Secretary of the same department that has ordered a fresh examination of the auction records and directed that movement of red sanders be stopped.
The August 13 order issued by Joint Secretary Sachindra Das to Assam PCCF & HoFF Sandeep Kumar cited confidential inputs from Assam Police and a newspaper report alleging irregularities in the auction and disappearance of a large quantity of red sanders from departmental stocks.
It sought all documents relating to valuation and auction of the various lots and ordered an immediate halt to the movement of red sanders.
But the report, prepared by a committee and subsequently submitted to the government by the current PCCF & HoFF, Sandeep Kumar, presents a very different picture.
The PCCF & HoFF constituted the committee to oversee the disposal of seized and confiscated red sanders lying in various forest divisions. It was MK Yadav who signed the order constituting the committee on January 19, 2024.
The report records government approval at every critical stage of the process—from disposal and valuation to auction and transportation—and does not indicate any unauthorised auction or disposal.
More significantly, much of this process took place when Yadav was PCCF & HoFF.
Process started under Yadav, now questioned under his watch
The red sanders disposal process was not a sudden or clandestine exercise by a few forest officials. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change approved the disposal of confiscated red sanders for domestic consumption on July 25, 2022. The Assam government subsequently approved domestic disposal on December 20, 2023.
On January 19, 2024, the PCCF & HoFF constituted the committee to oversee the disposal of seized and confiscated red sanders lying in different forest divisions.
The committee was entrusted with physical verification, valuation, preparation of auction documents and conduct of the disposal process.
The report says technical inputs for grading and valuation were obtained from the Forest Department and the Forest Development Corporation of Andhra Pradesh. The valuation methodology was subsequently placed before the government for approval.
The PCCF & HoFF sought government approval for the valuation methodology and bid document through communications dated May 29, August 13 and September 23, 2024.
Finally, on February 18, 2025, the Assam government approved the disposal of 138 MT of seized and confiscated red sanders through domestic auction.
In other words, this was not a case of some officers quietly deciding to sell government property. The process went through the government machinery while Yadav was the department’s top forest officer.
Government e-auction, not backdoor sale
The auction notice for 138.620 MT of red sanders was uploaded on the government e-auction portal on November 13, 2025.
It was publicly advertised in some national as well as vernacular newspapers and on the Assam Forest Department’s website.
Eight technical bids were received, of which two bidders were declared technically eligible.
The financial auction was held on December 11, 2025, and the bids were evaluated the following day.
Sale confirmation orders were issued for the undisputed lots, while one sub-lot was kept pending because of a sub judice matter.
The department’s own report therefore demolishes, at least prima facie, any suggestion that the auction itself was an unauthorised or secret disposal of red sanders.
Then why the sudden suspicion?
This is where the government’s latest action raises uncomfortable questions.
If the auction process had passed through government approval, committee scrutiny, valuation, public advertisement and the official e-auction portal, what exactly is the “large-scale irregularity” now being investigated?
Is the government questioning the auction itself? Is it questioning the valuation? Is it questioning the successful bidders? Or is the issue confined to the subsequent transportation and accounting of the stock?
The August 13 order does not clearly spell this out.
And that ambiguity becomes particularly striking because the present Special Chief Secretary, M.K. Yadav, was himself PCCF & HoFF during the crucial stages of the process.
Dhubri trucks: Another contradiction
The Dhubri episode has added another layer to the controversy. According to the Forest department report, the red sanders seized by the police were not freshly smuggled timber or a newly seized consignment.
They were old seized/confiscated stock lying in different forest divisions and were being transported to the Central Depot under Kamrup East Division in Guwahati.
The stated purpose was centralisation of the stock for verification, accounting and subsequent release to successful bidders.
The report says the movement was being undertaken in accordance with a July 28, 2026 communication from the Regional Office of MoEF&CC.
The loading was underway when Dhubri police detained the vehicles. Three vehicles had been partially loaded and loading was in progress in a fourth vehicle.
Sources familiar with the matter further alleged that the movement and loading of the red sanders had the knowledge and approval of senior officials and that Yadav, who had overseen the disposal process as PCCF, was aware of the movement.
This raises an obvious question: if the movement was unauthorised, why was departmental loading of the auctioned stock allowed to proceed in the first place? And if it was authorised, why is the government now presenting the episode as a possible case of large-scale irregularity?
Transit process also had official clearance
The department’s records show that the Forest Department had approached MoEF&CC on January 16, 2026, regarding transit permits for the auctioned material.
MoEF&CC subsequently informed the state on January 27 that the CITES Management Authority had fixed a quota of 161.04 MT for Assam from seized/confiscated sources and indicated that approval for transit permits for the 138.620 MT auctioned stock could be taken at the state government level.
The PCCF & HoFF office then approached the Assam government for permission to transport the material by railway from New Guwahati to Howrah.
The Assam government approved the transportation on April 27, 2026.
The report further states that successful bidders had completed the required formalities, including payment of bid security and applicable taxes.
So, once again, the paper trail points to a process involving multiple government approvals rather than a unilateral action by forest officials.
Yadav now has questions to answer
The controversy therefore goes beyond the red sanders themselves. How can a process carried out under the supervision of the Forest Department’s top officer, with government approvals at multiple stages, suddenly become a suspected case of “large-scale irregularity” after the fact?
And if there was indeed an irregularity, why should MK Yadav not face action when it occurred under his watch, while he was serving as PCCF & HoFF and headed the department?
More importantly, if Yadav was aware of the valuation, constitution of the committee, auction documents, successful bidders and subsequent transportation arrangements during his tenure, what is the basis for the government now seeking the same documents and putting the entire process on hold under his present administrative leadership?
The Forest Department’s own report makes one thing clear: the red sanders auction did not happen overnight or behind closed doors. It was a government-approved process conducted through the official e-auction mechanism.
The government may still investigate any discrepancy in stock accounting, transportation or implementation. But treating the entire auction process as inherently suspicious without addressing the documented approvals—and the role of Special Chief Secretary (Forest) MK Yadava in those approvals—raises more questions than it answers.
For now, the red sanders remain stopped. But the bigger question is whether the Assam government is investigating an actual illegality—or trying to find one in a process that its own machinery had already approved.