Tigers of Ranthambore & Western India Landscape

[Rishi]

(11-29-2018, 08:40 AM)Rishi Wrote: The debate over shifting two tigers to the Mukandra Hills, judgement soon

Dainik Bhaskar
Nov 28, 2018, 03:50 PM

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JAIPUR | Hearing & debate on the matter of shifting of two female tigers from Ranthambore Tiger Reserve to the Mukandra Hills Tiger Reserve, including arguments of the petitioner, the central and state governments, were concluded in the Rajasthan High Court were on Tuesday.

A division bench of Judge Mohammad Rafiq and Govardhan Bardar gave this interim directive to the petitioner of Ajay Shankar Dubey on the state government's request letter. 
During this, the central government started that NTCA has approved the state government to shift the two tigresses to the Mukandra Hills. The State Government also pleaded that after the NTCA's approval, the petition be dismissed by lifting the ban on shifting the tigers. On behalf of the petitioner, he said that the NTCA approval should have been taken first. 

After all the parties were heard, the court has decided to pass a final judgement after further contemplation the matter.

The applicant had filed a PIL challengeing the shifting of tiger T-91 from Ramgarh-Vishdhari Wildlife Sanctuary to Mukandra Hills Tiger Reserve without prior approval of NTCA, that too in a different zone, from the one chosen for its release. 
During the hearing on the petition, the court had put on hold translocation of any tigers to Mukandra Hills Tiger Reserve until further notice.

Court dismisses Ajay Dubey's petition & clears shifting of female tigers to MHTR

The forest department of Rajasthan can now relocate tigresses to the Mukundra Tiger Hills Reserve (MHTG) after the Rajasthan High Court dismissed a petition challenging the translocation of the male tiger T-91 aka MT-1.
The decision by the divisional bench of the court comes as a major relief for the state government, which was defending itself on not fulfilling all conditions while shifting the male tiger.

The tiger reached Ramgarh-Vishdhari Sanctuary on its own, from where he was captured & relocated due to that forest having low preybase & high human interference at present. Another tiger T-62 reached the place but had returned back to Ranthambore last month.

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Also, T-91 was also released in Darah Zone as all villages weren't yet shifted out of Seljar as originally agreed upon, resulting in NTCA withdrawing the permission to continue the translocation. 
Although State govt. cleared the issue with NTCA gave the green light again, the court ordered the project be in hold until the petition is heard, that was filed by wildlife activist Ajay Dubey alleged violation of wildlife norms by the Rajasthan government in translocating the tiger and sought that the tiger be recaptured & moved back to its original habitat (!!!!!!).

Thankfully, the court observed that the NTCA is a capable body which can decide on the relocation of the tigers & that the male tiger is roaming the sanctuary alone and in stress. As the government was already sanctioned permission by the NTCA earlier, in such circumstances, court’s intervention is not warranted.

It was argued in the court that the chief wildlife warden is competent authority to take decision to shift the tiger as per section 11 of wildlife protection act 1972. Reply