PIL in MP HC against wildlife advisory board set up in Aug

The Madhya Pradesh High Court issued notices to the state government, the chairman of the MP State Wildlife Advisory Board and others on Monday on a PIL alleging that the board was constituted in violation of norms.

Bhopal-based RTI and wildlife activist Ajay Dubey filed the PIL, counsel for petitioner Aditya Sanghi said, adding that Chief Minister Kamal Nath is the chairman of the 33-member SWAB constituted on August 3 this year.

"The MP High Court on Monday served notices to the chairman MP State Wildlife Advisory Board and others on a PIL against constitution of the board, in violation of norms," he said.

"Under section 6(e) of the Wildlife Protection Act, the state government has to nominate eminent conservationists, ecologists and environmentalists as members of the board. Two members nominated by the MP government are not conservationists, ecologists or environmentalists," the counsel said.

He said the board did not have two representatives of the Scheduled Tribe community as mandated in the Act.

"Moreover, before constitution of the board, the state government had to frame business rules but the same was not done," Sanghi said.

The PIL came up before the bench of Acting Chief Justice RS Jha and Justice VS Shukla on Monday, he added.

Additional chief secretary of the State Forest Department, the principal chief conservator of forest (PCCF) Bhopal and the secretary of the Union Ministry of Forest and Environment have also been made respondents in the PIL.