PANAJI
The Goa Foundation has filed an application before the Bombay High Court at Goa seeking action against the Goa government for failing to adhere to the three-month deadline given by the Court to notify a tiger reserve in and around the Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary in the State.
In the application filed before the Court, the Foundation has argued that no stay on the High Court’s order was passed by the Supreme Court and neither has the State government secured an extension from the High Court to notify the reserve.
“Despite having three months from July 24 to comply with the Court’s direction, and of which 1 month was available with the State of Goa after knowing that no stay was granted by the Apex Court, the State of Goa has adopted a very casual and indifferent approach in terms of complying with the directions of this Court to notify a Tiger Reserve within three months,” the Foundation said.
“These circumstances paint a very unfortunate picture of the State of Goa being a recalcitrant litigant in as far as this Court’s judgement dated 24.07.2023 is concerned. Once the Supreme Court declined to stay the judgement in its order dated 25.09.2023, the State of Goa was bound to comply with the direction of this Court to notify a tiger reserve within 3 months, i.e October 24, 2023,” the Foundation argued in its petition before the High Court.
The Goa Foundation also told the High Court that the government had specifically sought interim relief on the grounds that if the operation of the judgement was not stayed, the State would be compelled to notify the Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary and other areas as a Tiger Reserve, despite the State’s reasons for not wishing to do so.
In its ruling on August 24, the High Court bench of Justices M S Sonak and M S Jawalkar ordered that the repeated recommendations by National Tiger Conservation Authority under Section 38-V (1) of WLPA (Wildlife Protection Act) are mandatory and binding on the state government, a stance that was also adopted by the NTCA. “The State Government was bound to notify Mhadei WLS and other areas as a tiger reserve, given the recommendations of the NTCA on this issue,” the High Court said.
“NTCA’s communications contain proper recommendations, not merely suggestions or advice regarding notifying the Mhadei WLS and other areas as a tiger reserve. Repeatedly the NTCA exhorted the State Government to notify the tiger reserve expeditiously to arrest further degradation of the tiger and tiger habitat,” the High Court said.
The State government had opposed the move claiming that while it was “not opposed to notifying the area as a tiger reserve… the time was not right to make such a declaration…and that further studies were necessary, and the rights of the forest dwellers also needed to be settled entirely before such steps could be taken.”
