Can There Be A 'Project Great Indian Bustard' Like 'Project Tiger'? Supreme Court Asks Centre

In relation to the protection of the Great Indian Bustard, a Supreme Court bench led by CJI DY Chandrachud asked the Attorney General for India R Venkatramani to take instructions from the Ministry of Forest and Environment on whether it was possible to have a 'Project Great Indian Bustard' in a manner similar to the 'Project Tiger'. 

The Supreme Court had on 19th April 2021 passed its judgement issuing directions for the protection of the Great Indian Bustard from extinction. It had also constituted a Committee with three members, namely, a) Dr. Rahul Rawat, Scientist; b) Dr. Sutirtha Dutta, Scientist, Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun; c) Dr. Devesh Gadhavi, Deputy Director, The Corbett Foundation. The committee was directed to prepare and file quality standards in consultation with the Central Electricity Authority for the protection of the Great Indian Bustard. Accordingly, the following directions were passed–

1. Complete installation of bird diverters in priority areas.

2. States of Rajasthan and Gujarat along with power producers to ensure that an assessment is done within priority areas to assess the total length of transmission lines along with diverters required.

Senior Advocate Shyam Divan, appearing for the petitioners submitted that despite the order of the court, a power line in priority bustard habitat was not removed and two bustards had died. He stated that the bird diverters also fell off due to the weather and bustard deaths reached a total of 7 this year. He said–

"In Gujarat, they have started under-grounding. That's a good thing, a positive development. This is the only under grounding that has happened that we're aware of. Unfortunately that doesn't seem to be the situation in Rajasthan. Diverters have to be installed and maintained because they may fall off. As far as under-grounding is concerned, kudos to GETCO but others such as Rajsthan must start the work."

The AG along with Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati submitted that the composition of the committee had to be modified to include-

1. Additional Secretary of Renewable energy

2. Chief Operating Officer of Central Transmission Utility of India Ltd.

As per the union government, the inclusion of these two would facilitate the work of the committee since the committee would have domain experts.

To this, CJI Chandrachud remarked–

"Initially, my distinct predecessor, he pressed this application. But after having a look, he decided that let's not tinker the committee right now, and that was for justifiable reasons."

Accordingly, the order passed by the court submitted that–

"Status report says that installation of bird diverters is not complete. Mr. Shyam Divan, has placed a note on the record indicating that certain steps have taken place in priority areas of male and female species of Great Indian Bustard within months of April and October 2022."

In order to ensure that directions issued by this court are complied with, the bench issued the following further directions:

1. Chief secretaries of Rajasthan and Gujarat to assess the total length of transmission lines and the estimated number of bird diverters in priority areas required.

2. The committee shall submit an updated status report by the next date. 

Further, the bench left it open for the Committee to seek views of the technical experts and stated that the committee may take the expert opinion of the COO of Central Transmission Utility of India Ltd. It noted–

"Once the updated status report of committee is submitted, further view can be taken. An updated status report shall be filed within the next four weeks. All bird diverters shall be in compliance with the quality required by the committee appointed by this court."

As a departing comment, CJI DY Chandrachud also asked the Attorney General for India R Venkatramani to take instructions from the Ministry of Forest and Environment on whether it was possible to have a 'Project Great Indian Bustard' in a manner similar to the 'Project Tiger'.

CASE TITLE: MK Ranjitsinh And Ors. v. Union of India And Ors. WP(C) No. 838/2019 

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