The Supreme Court in its order said that Tiger Safari in the Jim Corbett National park cannot be permitted in its core area, however in the buffer zone people are allowed to see the tigers.
A bench comprising of Justice BR Gavai, Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and Justice Sandeep Mehta have taken the former Uttarakhand Forest Minister Harak Singh Rawat and Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Kishan Chand to task for not being careful to preserve the forest diversity and allowing safaris in restricted zones.
The Court said that this shows the nexus of bureaucrat and politician which resulted in heavy environmental damage.
The Judges found it questionable and said they were amazed at the audacity of the forest minister and Chand to have committed this.
The Court added that this was not a small thing and they are sure pf involvemet of many others but since CBI is probing the case, they would not say much as of now.
The Court appointed Ex-Director General of Forests & Special Secretary Chander Prakash Goyal, Sumit Sinha and another to suggest more efficient management of tiger reserves while stating that another important aspect is that illegal tree felling has taken place in the park which could not be ignored.
The Court added that the experts in the field must look into it safari already existing in Pakhru not to be disturbed.
COurt added that the government of Uttarakhand must establish a tiger rescue centre.
Adding to the order the court apprised that the MoEF shall constitute a committee of representative of NTCA, MoEF CEC officer not below rank of Joint Secretary and wildlife authority.
MoEF shall recommend measures to restore the damages and quantify costs of restoration. Identify officers who are liable and the cost shall be recovered from them. Cost to be exclusively used for restoration of damage.
The court said this during a case regarding permissions for the planned Pakhro Tiger Safari project at the Jim Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand.
In January, the court told the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) that its plan to have a tiger safari on the lines of a zoo within the national park cannot be allowed.
The Court referring to the NCTA guidelines said that the approach should ‘animal-centric’, rather than ‘tourism-centric’. It asked for providing for tiger safaris only in buffer and fringe areas of such reserves.
An environment activist and advocate Gaurav Bansal had challenge the Uttarakhand government’s proposal in this regard and filed a petition.
As per the State’s affidavit, Uttarakhand is home to 560 tigers with 260 at the Corbett Tiger Reserve that is spread across 1,288 square kilometres.
The tiger safari proposed at Pakhrau was on a land of 106 hectares, which is about 0.082 per cent of the total area at the national park, and 0.22 per cent of the buffer area of the tiger reserve.
In November 2022, the NGT ordered that the Pakhro Tiger Safari project in Jim Corbett National Park be halted in view of the fact that around 6,000 trees were illegally cut for the project.