THE JHARKHAND STORY DESK
New Delhi, March 6: For permitting unauthorized construction and tree-cutting in the Corbett tiger reserve, the Supreme Court on Wednesday severely rebuked former Uttarakhand forest minister and Congress leader Harak Singh Rawat as well as former divisional forest officer Kishan Chand.
A bench led by Justice B R Gavai remarked that this case demonstrates a disregard for the public trust doctrine by both bureaucrats and politicians.
The CBI, which is now investigating the case, was given a three-month deadline by the Supreme Court to submit its status report on the investigation.
SC slams Rawat and Chand for flagrant violation of law
“They (Rawat and Chand) have in blatant disregard of the law and for commercial purposes indulged in mass felling of trees to construct buildings in the pretext of promotion of tourism,” the bench stated.
The highest court expressed disbelief at the brazenness of Rawat and Chand in completely ignoring statutory provisions.
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“In the present case, it is clear beyond doubt, that the then forest minister had considered themselves as beyond law, and it shows how Mr. Kishan Chand had thrown the public trust doctrine to the wind and how politicians and bureaucrats take law into their own hands,” the court said.
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The court also established a committee to examine the possibility of allowing tiger safaris in buffer or fringe zones of national parks across the country.
“It is clear that the national wildlife conservation plan recognises the need for wildlife conservation beyond the protected areas,” the bench said.
“We are permitting the establishment of the tiger safari, but subject to our directions issued in the judgment,” the bench stated.
“We are of the view that the state cannot run away from the responsibility of restoring the status of the forest from when the damage was done and recovering it from the ones who committed the damage,” the bench further stated.
In connection with unauthorized construction within the tiger reserve, the Enforcement Directorate has previously conducted raids at the residences of Rawat and Chand.
