Environment activist and lawyer Gaurav Kumar Bansal had filed a petition that the Rajaji national park has no tiger conservation plan as required under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972
The Supreme Court on Wednesday pulled up the Uttarakhand government for not having in place tiger conservation and national park management plans for two of the crucial tiger reserves at Rajaji and Corbett national parks and directed the state’s top forest officials to be present in court on Thursday to explain the situation.
“It will shock the conscience of any person to know that you have no tiger management plan. Take instructions on why it has not been done. Let responsible officers of your department – head of forest force (HoFF) and chief wildlife warden be present and also somebody from national tiger conservation authority (NTCA). We will have the matter tomorrow,” a bench of justices BR Gavai and Sandeep Mehta said.
Environment activist and lawyer Gaurav Kumar Bansal had filed a petition opposing the proposal for tiger safari at Jim Corbett national park pointing to illegal constructions being carried out inside the tiger reserves and said that the Rajaji national park has no tiger conservation plan (TCP) till date as required under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
Endorsing the concerns raised in the petition, advocate K Parmeshwar assisting the court as amicus curiae said, “It is startling that till date the Rajaji National Park does not have a tiger conservation plan.” Under Section 38V of the Act, every notified tiger reserve is to have a tiger conservation plan. It requires the state government to prepare a TCP which includes staff development and deployment plan.
The Act provides that such a plan is required to ensure protection of tiger reserves and provide site-specific habitat inputs for a viable population of tigers, co-predators and prey animals, ensure ecologically compatible land uses in the tiger reserves and areas linked with it, and carrying out forestry operations without affecting needs of tiger conservation.
Bansal, who was present in the court, informed the bench that as per Sections 33 and 35 of the Act, national parks and wildlife sanctuaries are required to have a management plan in place, which several national parks in the state lack. It is in the face of such violations, he added, the state was proceeding with its plan to have a tiger safari inside Jim Corbett national park.
“If such things (tiger safari) have to be permitted, it must be permitted as a rescue centre (for old, infirm animals) and not a zoo,” the bench said.
The central empowered committee (CEC), a court-appointed expert body assisting SC on environment and forest issues, had in January last year filed a report opposing tiger safari projects and sought withdrawal of the proposal to have caged animals kept in the middle of the forest. To be sure, the ad-hoc CEC was replaced with a permanent CEC comprising experts appointed by the Centre in September last year.
Appearing for the state, senior advocate ANS Nadkarni said, “What we are doing is in terms of what is approved. It was the Union government which proposed this plan and forwarded it to us. The present project is 80% complete and a large amount of public money has already been spent.”
Tiger safaris are planned at Pakhrau – located at the southern edge of the Corbett reserve – on a land measuring 106 hectares. The state government had last year informed the court that this area constitutes only 0.082% of the total area at Corbett and 0.22% of the buffer area of the tiger reserve.
In an affidavit filed in April last year, the Uttarakhand government said that though the project started with all requisite approvals from the NTCA in 2015, the Central Zoo Authority in 2019 and the forest clearances from the ministry of environment, forests and climate change (MoEFCC) came in October 2020 and September 2021, respectively. The top court had in the past noted several irregularities by way of illegal constructions being made inside the tiger reserve which the state admitted in its affidavit. Since then, the illegal structures were destroyed, and legal action initiated against concerned officials.
The top court also expressed concern over flagrant violations taking place in other national parks across the country and mulled an action plan at the central level over mushrooming of resorts in tiger reserves.
Justice Gavai shared an experience when he was at Ranthambore national park just before the new year. “After 10 pm, on New Year’s Eve, loud music was playing and there are wedding destinations inside these reserves.”
“Now that you have a permanent CEC consisting of various experts, the CEC must study on a pan-India basis, the mushrooming growth of resorts in tiger reserves,” the court told additional solicitor general (ASG) Aishwarya Bhati appearing for Centre.
