‘Public trust doctrine in waste bin’: SC slams ex-minister, ex-forester for Corbett damage

The Supreme Court on Wednesday (March 6) came down heavily on former Uttarakhand forest minister and Congress leader Harak Singh Rawat and ex-divisional forest officer Kishan Chand for allowing illegal construction and felling of trees in the Corbett tiger reserve.

“This is a case where bureaucrats and politicians have thrown public trust doctrine into the waste bin,” said a bench headed by Justice BR Gavai and included Justices PK Mishra and Sandeep Mehta.

The apex court directed the CBI, which is already probing the case, to file its status report in the matter within three months.

Petition against zoo in national park

The bench was hearing a petition filed by lawyer and environment activist Gaurav Bansal challenging the Uttarakhand government’s proposal for a tiger safari and a zoo with caged animals inside the national park. While exploring the issue, the judges discovered that there was illegal construction and deforestation inside the tiger reserve.

"They (Rawat and Chand) have, in blatant disregard of the law and for commercial purposes, indulged in mass felling of trees to construct buildings on the pretext of promotion of tourism," the bench said.

As many as 6,000 trees were felled in the national park.

The bench, quoting from the Mahabharata, said that a forest protects the tiger and the tiger protects the forest.

The top court said it was amazed at the audacity of Rawat and Chand in giving statutory provisions a total go-by. It also formed a committee to look into whether tiger safaris can be permitted in buffer or fringe areas of national parks in the country.

Court allows tiger safaris in buffer zone

The court, however, allowed tiger safaris in the buffer zone of the national park because of the employment it could generate, while insisting that the safari tours follow the necessary guidelines.

The Enforcement Directorate had earlier raided the residences of Rawat and Chand in connection with illegal construction, felling of thousands of trees, and financial irregularities in the Pakhro Tiger Reserve range of Corbett National Park in 2019.

The Pakhro Tiger Reserve was Rawat’s favourite project when he was the forest minister in the then-BJP government. He joined the Congress before the 2022 Uttarakhand assembly polls after he was dismissed from the state cabinet and was stripped of the primary membership of the BJP for six years for alleged anti-party activities.

(With agency inputs)