PANJIM: The High Court of Bombay at Goa on Monday directed the State government to notify the Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary and other areas referred to in National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA)’s communications as a Tiger Reserve under Section 38-V (1) of the Wildlife Protection Act (WLPA) within three months from the date of the order.
In a damning order which has embarrassed and indicted the State government for flouting Supreme Court orders, the High Court pointed out that the State of Goa has defied SC timelines and directives to settle the rights of forest dwellers and using this delay as an excuse for not notifying the tiger reserve.
The Court also directed the State government to take all steps to prepare a tiger conservation plan as contemplated by Section 38-V (3) of the WLPA.
It also directed to forward the same to the NTCA within three months of notifying the Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary and other areas as a Tiger Reserve.
The Court has directed the NTCA to render full assistance to the State Government for completing the process and after that to expeditiously process the State Government’s Tiger Conservation Plan and take a decision thereon within three months of receiving the tiger conservation plan from the State government.
The Court’s directives came less than a fortnight after Chief Minister Pramod Sawant’s statement that the State does not fit into the criteria for setting up a Tiger Reserve.
While disposing of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) writ petition, the Court also directed the State government to set up anti-poaching camps at strategic locations to be staffed by forest guards, watchers, etc, in the Wildlife Sanctuaries and National Parks in the State within next six months.
“We direct the State government and the Forest Department authorities to take emergent steps to ensure that there are no encroachments in the protected forest areas like WLS and National Parks pending notification of the tiger reserve, and even after that,” the order adds.
The Court further directed the State government to determine and settle the rights and claims of the Scheduled Tribes and other forest dwellers following the law as expeditiously as possible within a year from the date of order.
The Court gave these directives following an affidavit filed by Santosh Kumar, Chief Wild Life Warden, on behalf of the State government, wherein no contention was raised that the State government is barred or disabled from notifying Mhadei WLS and other areas as a Tiger Reserve because the State government is yet to settle the rights and claims of the forest dwellers in the protected area of Goa.
The only contention in the affidavit was that final notification under Section 26-A of the WLPA was yet to be issued in the cases of Bhagwan Mahaveer, Mhadei WLS (partly) and Netravali WLS (partly).
Therefore, it was urged that proposing these areas as Tiger Reserves without settlement of rights and claims of the forest dwellers “may be premature, and will adversely affect larger public interest and further aggravate man-tiger conflict”.
The Court further stated that after analysis of the scheme of WLPA, it was clear that there was no bar or a legal impediment to notify a protected area as a Tiger Reserve even though final notification under Section26-A of WLPA may not have been issued concerning protected areas like the sanctuary or national park. Thus, issuing final notification under Section 26-A of WLPA is not a sine qua non for declaring the protected area a tiger reserve, it said.