PANJIM: With less than 24 hours to go for the deadline to notify Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary and its surrounding area as a Tiger Reserve expires, there is stoic silence on the part of the State government as there was no mention of its miscellaneous civil application pleading for extension of time before the High Court of Bombay at Goa on Monday.
It is like the silence of the jungle, eerie and super quiet with not a leaf moving. October 24 happens to be Dussehra, a celebration of right over wrong. Apart from right-thinking people of Goa, perhaps the tigers at Mhadei could well dream of a protective notification.
Since the miscellaneous civil application filed by the Goa government in the High Court did not come for a hearing, the legal fraternity opined that the government was legally bound to implement the order.
With the Supreme Court declining to grant an interim stay to the Bombay High Court order dated July 24, 2023, on notifying a Tiger Reserve at Mhadei, the Goa government is now in a piquant situation as the deadline to notify Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary and its surrounding area as Tiger Reserve ends on Tuesday night.
Reacting to this, Norma Alvares, counsel for the petitioner Goa Foundation, said, “The deadline for notifying the Tiger Reserve will expire on October 24. It is October 23 today (Monday). Let us not jump the gun and make a comment or pre-empt anything. As petitioners, we must patiently wait for things to unfold.”
Advocate General Devidas Pangam was not available for his comment. Last week, AG Pangam stated that the government had not asked for any specific amount of time but had sought an appropriate extension of the deadline.
On September 25, the Supreme Court while hearing a special leave application of the Goa government declined to either grant an interim stay to the directions of the High Court or extend the July 24 deadline.
The High Court of Bombay at Goa by its order dated July 24, 2023, had directed the Goa government to notify Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary as Tiger Reserve within three months from the order date.
However, the State government appealed against the order in the Supreme Court and engaged the services of former Attorney General and senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi to defend the State. Senior counsel Rohatgi had argued that there ought to be a proposal from the State government to the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and only after that the NTCA can recommend to the government to notify the area as Tiger Reserve.
The Supreme Court has already issued notices to Goa Foundation, the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change (MoEF&CC) and the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA).
