Indian
Express: New Delhi: Saturday, 31 January 2015.
ASSERTING
that animals have a first right on forests, the Supreme Court Friday declined a
plea by the Kerala government to lift the night ban on vehicles plying through
Bandipur Tiger Reserve.
“Forests
belong to animals and tribals who live there. But you have carved a road inside
that and then want to use it,” observed a bench led by Chief Justice of India H
L Dattu.
The
application was filed by the Kerala government, seeking a direction from the
court to allow vehicles to move in a convoy through the reserve forest thrice
during night time. It said the night ban, operative from 6 pm to 9 am, caused
major inconvenience to the passengers travelling by road between Karnataka and
Kerala since they had to wait at the borders overnight.
Senior
advocate Gopal Subramanium, appearing for Kerala, also produced an RTI reply to
counter the allegation that a large number of animals had lost their lives
because of the night traffic. He referred to the RTI response and said only 14
wild animals died between 2000 and 2012.
The bench
however remained unimpressed and refused to lift the ban. At this, Subramanium
informed that some alternative routes were also proposed and that the Kerala
government has also decided to approach the central government for their
approval.
The court
adjourned the case by eight weeks after Subramanium asked for more time for
deliberation between the state governments and the Centre.
The ban was
imposed in June 2009 by the district administration as a protective measure to
prevent killing of animals on road through the reserve. The Karnataka
government had later withdrawn this order but the High Court restored it.
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