Goemkarponn desk
PANAJI: With the state government failing to comply with the High Court’s three-month deadline for declaring and notifying the Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary as a tiger reserve, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has preferred to remain mum.
“I will discuss with the AG (Advocate General) and then make the statement,” Sawant responded to a question from the media. Let me talk to the AG about this.
The State was ordered by the Bombay High Court’s division bench in Goa to declare Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary a tiger reserve within three months on July 24.
To give itself more time to execute the order while a special leave petition (SLP) is being heard by the Supreme Court, the State submitted an application on October 20. According to the schedule, the matter is not scheduled for October 25 on the board and was not heard or admitted by the court until October 23.
The State administration is adamant that Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary does not currently require a notification to be designated as a tiger reserve because regulations similar to those for tiger reserves are already in place across wildlife sanctuaries.
The State was instructed to notify the Tiger Reserve and, within three months, to draft a tiger conservation plan in compliance with the Wildlife Protection Act and submit it to the NTCA. Moreover, that deadline has passed.
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