'This Is Not A Committee Of Experts' : Karnataka HC Asks State Govt To Reconstitute Committee To Protect Great Indian Bustard

The Karnataka High Court on Monday orally said that the State government will have to reconstitute the advisory committee formed for development and upliftment of Great Indian Bustard, (GIB) in the state.

A division bench of Chief Justice Abhay Oka and Justice Sachin Shankar Magadum on going through the minutes of the meeting held on January 15, expressed displeasure and said :

"The minutes of the meeting show that committee has not bothered to take any steps for implementation of suggestions made in the report submitted by Sálim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON). The minutes of the meeting shows that the committee has diverted its attention to different issues."

The court orally said: "Reconstitute the committee. This committee is doing nothing."

It added : "This is not a committee of experts. A committee of experts will have to give concrete suggestions on steps for preservation."

Referring to the minutes of the meeting the court said :  "Look at the minutes they are hardly acting as experts in the field. The work undertaken is of any other committee who are not experts."

The court referred to the progress report submitted by the institute (SACON) which suggested that "There are no scientific population assessment and intensive monitoring of GIB conducted in this landscape, all the known information on GIB is based on opportunistic sighting records." It adds that "Continuous monitoring of GIB population in the study areas is important to assess the population, structure, habitat use and the threats to the population." It said "You appoint a committee of a reputed institute. Instead of implementing the suggestions of the institute this committee appointed by the government is doing something else."

The state government by order dated June 17, 2020 has formed the advisory committee. The committee consists of Deputy Conservator of Forest—Ballari as its Chairman. The members of the committee are Dr Manohar, Professor of Zoology, Veerashaiva College, Dr Arun, MBBS/MS Surgeon, Tashildar, Siruguppa Taluk, Range Forest Officer, Ballari Range and Samad Kottur, Lecturer, Government PU Colleges, Hospet.

On the previous hearing, the Court had doubted the expertise of the Committee.

The bench in its order directed the state government to make a clear stand on oath whether the state government wants to implement the recommendation made by SACON. The matter will be next heard on February 2.

The direction was given during the hearing of a petition filed by conversationalist Edward Santosh Martin and others. The petition states the illegal actions of respondents, undertaking civil works such as construction of watch towers and anti-poaching camps, within the area of habitat of the species at Siruguppa in Ballari district, has pushed the species to the brink of extinction which is a blatant violation of Part III, Schedule I of the Wild Life(Protection) Act, 1972.

The petitioners prayed for removal of the construction by winter at the latest, so that the GIBs may perhaps breed again in the spring. If they miss the breeding season for the second year at a stretch, their extinction from Karnataka is definite as there are not more than 8 surviving species of GIB in Karnataka.