Chhattisgarh HC asks govt to submit blueprint of rules for wildlife board in 3 weeks

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Raipur/Bhopal, Dec 26 (IANS) The Chhattisgarh High Court has granted three weeks time to the state government to submit a complete blueprint of 'rules' for the functioning of the State Board for Wild Life setup under The Wild Life (Protection) Act 1972.

The Chhattisgarh government had set up State Board for Wild Life on the recommendation and approval from the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the Ministry of Environment and Forest respectively in 2003. The Board, however, has been functioning for the last 18 years without any framed rules.

The development came while hearing (on December 21) a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed in 2019 by an animal rights activist Ajay Dube was going on. The plea claimed that "in Chhattisgarh till date, no rules have been made prescribing the manner in which the Board is to function."

Harsh Wardhan, counsel representing the petitioner told IANS: "State government told the court that 'formation of rules are under process and to be finalised soon'. Subsequently, the court instructed the government to submit a blueprint of the rules by next three weeks."

Chhattisgarh along with Madhya Pradesh constitutes a huge area having dense evergreen forests, which are considered to be the best habitats for tigers. Chhattisgarh has four Tiger reserves -- Udanti-Sitanadi, Achanakmar, Indravati Reserve, and the newly declared Tiger reserve -- Guru Ghasidas National Park and Tamor Pingala WildLife Sanctuary.

The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has recently approved Chhattisgarh government's proposal to declare the combined area of the Guru Ghasidas National Park and Tamor Pingala WildLife Sanctuary as a Tiger Reserve, which is located in the northern part of the state and bordering Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand.

The situation in Madhya Pradesh State Board for WildLife seems quite similar to Chhattisgarh because here too the Board is functioning in absence of 'rules'. In a similar case earlier in August 2019, the Madhya Pradesh High Court had issued a notice to the state government over the constitution of the WildLife Board.

A petitioner had submitted in the court that "Madhya Pradesh State WildLife Board has been reconstituted without making the rules under Section 6 of the WildLife (Protection) Act and two Schedule Tribes Eminent Conservationists have not been included, which is mandatory provision as per the Act."

So far in India, only three states -- Tamil Nadu, Odisha and Maharashtra have framed rules for constitution of the WildLife Board as per the mandatory provisions. As per the provision, under Section 6 (e) of the Act, the State governments can nominate 10 persons to the Board from "amongst eminent conservationists, ecologists and environmentalists."

The term of office (Board) of members other than who are ex-officio, will be for a period of two years. It also says that if "the Chairman considers an eminent biologist or any other person interested or, concerned with wildlife conservation, he/she may call such a person as a permanent invitee who like any other regular member will take part in all meetings and deliberations of the Board. Such permanent invitee will have the first claim on membership of the Board whenever a vacancy occurs."

All the state governments are mandated to constitute a state board for wildlife, with the chief minister as its chairman, which is mandatory to tender its advice in 'formulation of the policy for protection and conservation of the wildlife and specified plants' among others, according to the WildLife (Protection) Act, 1972.

--IANS

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