SC for CBI probe into tiger population

The Sentinel , Thursday, May 05, 2005
Correspondent : Staff Reporter
New Delhi, May 4 (PTI): Faced with the daunting task of checking the dwindling tiger population caused by "organized poaching", the Supreme Court has sought Centre’s response on a plea demanding CBI inquiry into the large-scale disappearance of the big cat from the Project Tiger reserves across the country.

Issuing notice to the Centre, a Bench comprising Justice YK Sabharwal, Justice Arijit Pasayat and Justice SH Kapadia sought reply as to why CBI not be directed to take up probe into all such tiger reserves which face problems similar to the Sariska Tiger reserve where the wild cat has vanished.

The Bench was acting on a petition sent by wild life expert Ashok Kumar through post to the apex court.

Kumar, who has been a member of the Steering Committee of Project Tiger for two terms, has sought inquiry into the diminishing population of big cats in all tiger reserves and sanctuaries such as Ranthambore. including Keola Devi and Sawai Madhopur sacntuaries in Rajasthan.

The conservationist has also sought the agency’s probe into Panna and Bandhavgarh Tiger reserves in Madhya Pradesh. Besides, investigation by CBI has been sought into the affairs of National Parks and sanctuaries at Dudwa and Kanha (Madhya Pradesh), Palamu (Jharkhand) and Nagarjun Sagar-Srisalam (Andhra Pradesh).

The petitioner in his letter to the apex court submitted that the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of CBI which has done a professional job in Sariska should continue with the probe in other tiger reserves and the members of the team should not be changed without the permission of the court.

The petitioner has sought court's direction to empower the SIT to register criminal cases for investigation pertaining to poaching and other irregularities in different tiger reserves.

In the petition, Kumar has submitted that the crisis has been caused by serious systematic deficiencies which the government has failed to correct.

"The primary cause of decline in tiger population in quite a few tiger reserves is organised poaching, masterminded by wildlife traders in collaboration with local networks," the petition said.

Recently, the CBI had submitted a report to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh alleging that not a single tiger was left in the Sariska tiger reserve due to large-scale poaching and negligence of forest officials.

The Court will take up the matter again tomorrow.

 
SOURCE : The Sentinel, Thursday, May 05, 2005
 


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