'Why Do You Always Need Court's Intervention?': Gujarat High Court Slams Forest Dept, Railways For Inaction After Lion Deaths On Rail Tracks

The Gujarat High Court has raised concerns regarding the delay by both the Railways and the State Forest Department in addressing the accidental deaths of two lions on railway tracks in Amreli district.

The Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal and Justice Aniruddha P. Mayee asserted, “In our considered opinion, when these accidents occurred in the month of January 2024, the appropriate course of action for the Forest and the Railway officials was to make an inquiry jointly or severally to ascertain the cause of death on the railway track and take corrective measures, which ought to have been done at their own ends without intervention made by us in the order dated 26.03.2024.”

The Bench highlighted the absence of any mention in the affidavit submitted by the Deputy Conservator Forest, Gir-West Division, Junagadh, regarding actions taken to investigate the cause of the railway accidents resulting in the loss of two lions from the Gujarat Forest and Sanctuary within a single month.

The development comes in a PIL filed in 2016 by Animal rights activist Biren Pandya, demanding CID probe into the electrocution-death of a pregnant lioness in 2016.

The High Court had established a 10-member committee to address the above issue. However, when the incidents of lion deaths on railway tracks came to light, the Court "searched for this petition" and expressed readiness to hold Forest and Railway officials accountable for their silence.

The Court remarked, "What have you done to know the cause of the accident? At least you should first ascertain the cause to then take remedial measures. Neither the forest department nor the Railways have sit together and considered this aspect. We won't praise you for installing trackers or the watch towers."

During the hearing, Additional Advocate General (AAG) Manisha Luvkumar-Shah informed the Court that barricades near railway tracks, previously broken at several points, have now been repaired. Shah emphasized that this maintenance work had been ongoing for some time, indicating that repairs were not solely prompted by the court's order.

However, the bench criticized the Forest Department for its slow progress, noting that significant action was only taken after the Court intervened.

"Why do you need court's intervention always to put your house in order? You should not need a court order always but you can work on your own without even a word from us," remarked Chief Justice Agarwal.

Taking suo motu cognizance of the matter, the Court had previously issued directives on 26.03.2024 to ensure appropriate action was taken.

The High Court had instructed the railway authority and the forest department to develop a standard operating procedure to reduce incidents of Asiatic lions being struck by trains, emphasizing that it would not tolerate the frequent killing of these big cats due to the negligence of the Railways.

During the hearing, Chief Justice Agarwal had remarked that numerous lions had been fatally struck by trains in Gujarat due to the Railways' negligence and that efforts should be made to eliminate such occurrences entirely.

"We are not going to tolerate that you are killing them every day," CJ Agarwal had told the lawyer representing the Indian Railways at that time.

In its order dated 09.04.2024, the High Court noted that the there was a complete silence in the affidavit of the Deputy Conservator Forest, Gir-West Division, Junagadh supplied in the Court today, about any steps having been taken at his level to find out the cause of two railway accidents occurred in one month, viz. January 2024 wherein two lions of Gujarat Forest and Sanctuary had died.

The court had previously instructed the Forest officials as well as Railway authorities to work out Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to curb any such accident in future, and to achieve the target of zero occurrence of such accidents, an affidavit was filed to assert that in a joint meeting of the Forest Department as well as Railways held on 03.04.2024, SOP has been worked out to curb accidental deaths of Asiatic lions on the railway tracks.

In the affidavit of the Deputy Conservator of Forest, various steps taken by him to track the movement of lions, caution orders issued to railway officials, watch towers erected on strategic locations to locate lion movement on railway tracks, installation of solar lights on certain hot-spots for illumination of lion movement, etc. were narrated in the affidavit to assert that for the period from April 2023 to February 2024, total 1014 untoward incidents that may have caused death of lions, have been avoided.

“However, there is no whisper in the affidavit about any inquiry being made at the ends of the Forest Department to find out the actual cause of death of two lions on railway tracks in the month of January 2024 itself,” the Court noted.

The Court further noted that similarly, in the affidavit filed on behalf of the Railways, by the Senior Divisional Electrical Engineer (Traction) Western Railway, Bhavnagar Division, Bhavnagar Para, reference was made to the SOP prepared on 05.04.2024 pursuant to the meeting held on 03.04.2024 wherein various steps have been worked out to ensure that lions of Gir Forest and Sanctuary are saved from death on the railway tracks.

The Court observed, “As regards the issue regarding conversion of meter gauge into broad gauge in Khijadiya-Amreli section, from the map appended along with the affidavit of the Deputy Conservator of Forest, Gir- West Division, it is evident that the section wherein conversion has been proposed by the Railways is an important lion corridor.”

“Therefore, we call upon the response of the Chief Conservator of Forest, Wild Life Circle, Junagadh and Divisional Railway Manager, Western Railways, Bhavnagar about the assertion made by the Railways in paragraph 7 of the affidavit filed today and to answer as to the impact of conversion of meter gauge into broad gauge in an important lion corridor,” the Court directed.

The Court further stated that the above aspects are to be answered by the Chief Conservator of Forest, Wild Life Circle, Junagadh by filing his personal affidavit representing the case of the Forest Department and the Divisional Railway Manager, Western Railways, Bhavnagar representing the case of the Railways in the Court on the next day fixed.

“In the meantime, appropriate steps in the right direction shall be taken to ensure the implementation of the SOP worked out in the meeting held on 03.04.2024,” the Court directed.

The matter is now listed on April 23, 2024 for further hearing.

Case Title- Suo Motu v. Union of India & Ors.

Click here to read/download the Order