New Delhi: A day after the death of one of the cheetahs brought from Namibia in Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park, the Supreme Court on Tuesday sought information like qualification and experience of the experts involved in the cheetah task force. It is noteworthy that ‘Sasha’ A four-and-a-half-year-old female cheetah named Nam died on Monday due to kidney ailment. He was brought from Namibia about six months ago and kept in the Kuno National Park (KNP) in Madhya Pradesh.
Justice B. R. A bench of Justices Gavai and Vikram Nath asked the central government to respond within two weeks regarding the cheetah management experts in the workforce, their experience and qualifications etc. The top court was hearing a petition filed by the central government, in which the center had sought a direction from the court that the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) is now required to seek guidance and advice from an expert committee. Not there. This expert committee was constituted on the orders of the Supreme Court dated January 28, 2020.
Passing the order, the court had then noted that former Director of Wildlife Conservation M.K. A three-member committee comprising Ranjit Singh, Chief Conservator of Forests in Uttarakhand, Wildlife Administration Dhananjay Mohan and DIG (Wildlife) in the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change will guide the NTCA on the introduction of African cheetahs in India. NGO Center for Environment Law WWF’ Senior advocate Prashanto Chandra Sen, appearing for the cheetah task force, said that no expert on cheetahs is included in the task force. He said since the cheetahs have been brought here, the NTCA should continue to work with the expert committee set up by the Supreme Court, at least in the initial days.
He said, “The leopards came and we even lost one of them. Experts are needed, who have wide knowledge and experience in managing cheetahs.” Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the Centre, said that the government has prepared a scientific action plan to bring cheetahs to India. “The action plan is a detailed scientific document prepared on the basis of interactions with scientists, wildlife practitioners, forest officials and cheetah experts from India and countries like Namibia, South Africa and the US,” he said.
Bhati said that it is not the case that only his experts know everything and other experts have no idea about cheetah management. Justice Vikram Nath said that nowadays the government is taking a lot of interest in wildlife conservation. The bench posted the matter for hearing after two weeks and asked Bhati to inform about the Cheetah experts inducted into the task force.
