HC refuses to stay shut-down notice to Taj Resort in Gir

The Gujarat High Court has refused to interfere with the shut-down notice issued to Taj Resort of the Indian Hotels Company in the Gir National Park, the only abode of Asiatic lions.
A division bench of Justices Jayant Patel and G B Shah yesterday refused to grant relief to the hotel group against the state forest department's notice about sealing of the resort which does not have a no-objection-certificate.
The company has moved the court against the notice which says that it should close down the resort by April 15.
Further hearing would be held on April 23.
The High Court took up the issue as a public interest litigation upon the representation of Anil Chudasama who alleged that the local authorities prevented him from carrying out farming on a plot of land purchased by him.

He later found out that the plot had been originally allotted to local people who lived within the Gir forest and who were resettled outside the sanctuary. But some of them sold these lands and migrated back to the forest.
He also alleged that hotels and resorts were operating in the area without any permissions and the land around the sanctuary was being sold, which is prohibited.
The government closed 55 commercial establishments in the area subsequently.