SC Says No To Zoos Inside Tiger Reserves, Bans Constructions In Core Areas Of National Parks, Sanctuaries

The Supreme Court ordered the stopping of all construction activities in the core areas within tiger reserves, national parks, and wildlife sanctuaries.

An SC bench of Justice BR Gavai and Justice Vikram Nath issued the order on Wednesday while hearing a batch of pleas over the alleged illegal construction of buildings and waterbodies and unlawful felling of trees in Uttarakhand¡¯s Jim Corbett National Park.

Jim Corbett National Park

SC questions existence of zoos inside protected areas

"We do not appreciate the necessity of having a zoo inside the tiger reserves or national parks. The concept of protecting these is to permit animals to reside in their natural environs and not artificial environs," the court said.

The SC noted that various illegal constructions have been carried out inside tiger reserves and sought from NTCA the rationale behind permitting such safaris within protected areas.

Jim Corbett National Park

Building zoo in the name of safari

Amicus curiae K Parameshwar had earlier told the court, ¡°It is virtually a zoo in the name of a safari, within a tiger reserve. It is absolutely shocking these new buildings are constructed inside the core area in Corbett without any statutory prior approval. There has to be an immediate seizure.¡±

Parameshwar also informed the bench that ¡°in the name of a safari¡±, 6,093 trees in the national park had been cut.

He further pointed out that the entire project was based on the idea of having ¡°some kind of a tiger safari inside the national park¡±. "They say there will be an enclosure with tigers in it for educational purposes and tourism. They have made a concrete and iron enclosure in the name of a safari," he said.

BCCL

Safari will boost tourism: Uttarakhand govt

Dr Abhishek Atrey, who represented the Uttarakhand government, told the SC that such a novel feature would boost jungle tourism.

"Safaris are not just allowed in every state of the country, but all over the world," he said.

"Safari is something different. You go on a drive through a jungle in a jeep, and you come back," Justice Nath asked.

Jim Corbett National Park

What Union govt told SC

In January, the Union government told the Supreme Court that the core or critical tiger habitat areas of national parks and wildlife sanctuaries must be kept "inviolate" for tiger conservation and the Wild Life (Protection) Act's provisions 1972 categorically highlight this point.

The government said this in an affidavit filed in the apex court on a plea over the decision of the Jim Corbett National Park allowing buses of a private operator to ply within the core area of the tiger reserve in Uttarakhand.

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