A Bench comprising Mr Justice Y. K. Sabharwal, Mr Justice

Arijit Pasayat and Mr Justice S. H. Kapadia issued the notice after Central Government standing counsel A. D. N. Rao made a reference of the matter raised in an application for the approval of the court.

Rao said the Central Empowerment Committee (CEC) had on November 13 asked the RTL to deposit Rs 1 crore in the Compensatory Afforestation Fund (CAF) for causing damages to the Madhav National Park in MP by digging a vast area for laying the cables without permission from the forest authorities.

The committee had also pulled up the MP Government for taking a stand that in a wildlife area approved under the Forces Act, permission was not required for non-forestry activities. The CEC in its report had said that such a stand was not correct as prior approval was compulsory.

“This is the legal requirement and also the procedure that is being followed by all states in cases involving non-forestry activities in any national park or sanctuary,” it said.

The committee had also asked the MP Government to ensure that in future no project was allowed to be implemented inside any protected forest without prior sanction from the competent authorities.

RTL had claimed before the committee that it was granted permission by Ministry of Environment and Forest for laying the optical fibre cables in the 6-km stretch along the Agra-Mumbai national highway passing through the Madhav National Park.

In an another matter, the court, which was considering a batch of petitions concerning forest matters across the country, also issued notice to Director Project Elephant regarding death of 59 elephants in Nagarhole reserved forests in MP, allegedly caused by poaching or by farmers in efforts to save their crops.

The Director was asked to furnish details about the steps being taken to protect the elephants in the area.