Tiger Reserve: Goa likely to seek extension of time from High Court

Panaji, Oct 17 (IANS) As the timeline to notify the Mhadei Tiger Reserve ends on October 24, Goa government is likely to seek extension of time from the High Court.

Advocate General Devidas Pangam, speaking to IANS, said that the timeline ends on October 24 and there is a need to seek extension. “I have given my opinion to the state government to make an application before the Goa Bench of Bombay High Court seeking extension,” he said.

On July 24, the Bombay High Court at Goa had directed the state government to notify the Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary as a Tiger Reserve within three months.

The Court was hearing a petition filed by Goa Foundation (a local NGO). It had sought direction from the court to notify a tiger reserve in the state.

The government of Goa then approached the Supreme Court to nullify the order of the High Court, but the Apex Court has refused a stay.

“It depends on what the Supreme Court decides about the matter. It has issued notices,” Pangam said.

Sources informed that next hearing in the Supreme Court will take place in the second week of November, hence the Goa government will have to seek extension of time in the High Court in regard to notification of the tiger reserve.

A couple of days back, former Union Minister for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh said that the Goa government has no option but to notify Mhadei Tiger Reserve by October 24, 2023, as the Supreme Court has refused to stay the order of the High Court.

“On July 24, 2023, the Goa Bench of Bombay High Court, in response to some petitions, directed the Goa government to declare Mhadei as Tiger Reserve. It gave the Goa government three months to do so. The government of Goa then approached the Supreme Court to nullify the order of the High Court. But on September 25, 2023 the Supreme Court refused a stay,”Jairam Ramesh said on X.

“So now the Goa govt has no option but to notify the Mhadei Tiger Reserve by October 24, 2023. Of course, like in the case of the cheetah project, the PM will claim credit. But let that be. There is continuity in governance which he never acknowledges,’ he said.

Goa government had rejected the proposal to set up a tiger reserve in the state, by claiming that Goa's small wildlife sanctuaries did not fit the National Tiger Conservation Authority's (NTCA) criteria for setting up one.