Supreme Court order puts hold on new zoos or safaris in forests until final ruling

The interim order passed by a bench led by the Chief Justice of India restricting the establishment of zoos/safaris within forest areas has been put on hold. The interim order will operate only till the final judgment on the very same issue is pronounced by another coordinate bench.

Noteworthy is that the Supreme Court on February 19 decreed that prior permission will be necessary for setting up any zoo or safari in a forest. 

The apex court while examining the validity of amendments to the Forest (Conservation) Act made the ruling. The SC further said that all states and union territories to submit information about the total forest land, as determined under a 1996 top court decision to the Centre, latest by March 31 this year. 

Last week, Justice Gavai, after referring to the interim order passed by the CJI-led bench, had expressed concerns about the possibility of conflicting orders and asked the Union Government's law officer if the CJI's bench was not apprised of the
matter heard by his bench. Additional Solicitor General replied that the order passed by the CJI-led bench was only interim in nature and that the bench was informed about the matter before Justice Gavai's bench also.

The interim order passed by the CJI-led bench, which was released today, has clarified that it will be in operation only till the judgment is pronounced by the coordinate bench.
  
The interim order has directed that "any proposal for the establishment of zoo/safaris referred to in the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 owned by Govt or any authority in forest areas other than protected areas shall not be finally approved save and except with the prior permission of this Court."

Under the amended Forest Conservation Act, the Court exempted zoo and safari from the long list of non-forestry activities, which had cleared the way for such activities to be held inside forests. Already, a proposal for setting up tiger safari at Jim Corbet National Park in Uttarakhand has been reserved for judgment by the apex court. Another proposal is to have an animal safari in the Aravalli forest range of Haryana against which an application has been moved in the top court.