LIFE - SAVING PIL FOR BIG CAT ? - Constitutional Law News

LIFE - SAVING PIL FOR BIG CAT ? 21 Jan 2009, 0439 hrs IST, TNN LUCKNOW: Finally, a lifeline is in sight for the two-and-a-half-year-old stray tiger cub who was sentenced to death by the state forest department last month. The cub, declared man-eater by the department after it claimed its first human victim in Bara Banki on December 23, now becomes a key figure in a legal battle that is about to unfold here. Three NGOs from Lakhimpur have moved the high court and sought its intervention in quashing the shooting order issued by the chief conservator of forest. Praying for reclamation of the big cats’ natural habitat by removing forest encroachment, the petition also asks for appropriate action “against those responsible for flouting the provisions of Wildlife Protection Act. The petition was filed on behalf of Vijay Laxmi, a teacher in-charge in Balika Vidya Mandir, Paliya Kalan, Kheri and her two associates before the division bench comprising justice UK Dhaon and Justice Satish Chandra. The errnat cub incidentally is known to have covered more than 300 kilometres from Pilibhit — its original habitat — to arrive in Bara Banki and then Faizabad. Ever since December 13, when it was first sighted, it has engaged gasping forest functionaries in a sprightly game of catch-me-if-you- can. The little one is apparently covering its trails well enough to fool the experts and the much-hyped combing operations have ended up as embarrassing wild goose chase so far. Terming the shooting order “improper and passed without making any sincere efforts to trap or tranquillise the tiger” petitioners have trained their guns at the chief conservator of forest instead.

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