Will submit reply to SC after reading order on wildlife board: Javadekar

The apex court on Aug 25 issued a notice to Centre asking it to put on hold around 140 projects cleared by NBWL

Taking a note of the Supreme Court's order to hold decisions taken by the newly constituted National Board for Wildlife, Union environment minister Prakash Javadekar on Tuesday said that the ministry will reply to apex court after looking at the detailed order saying that those decisions were taken by the Board's standing committee.

"We will give the status to the court because the meeting which took decisions was the meeting of National Board of Wildlife Standing committee which is authorised to do it. We will put up the facts when we see the (Court's) directions and I am sure we will get justice and things will be cleared sooner," Javadekar told reporters on the sidelines of the 10th meeting of the National Tiger Conservation Authority.

Javadekar declined stating the exact number of projects cleared by the standing committee in a meeting on 11-12 August this year and said that the ministry has asked for a detailed order of the apex court.

The SC on Monday had issued a notice to the Centre questioning the formation of the NBWL and asked it to put on hold around 140 projects cleared by the Board.

The apex court said the nomination of only three of the 15 mandatory members to the Wildlife Board, along with that of its standing committee, has not been done in consonance with the provisions of the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. The SC had directed that the NBWL might function but its decisions would not be put to effect till the next date of hearing.