It is a perfect example of the Supreme Court (SC) not following its own rulings. Though the court has repeatedly said stay orders in criminal matters should not continue for too long, its stay on a CBI probe into the poaching of animals inside the Corbett Tiger Reserve (CTR) has remained in place for seven years.
Now, the apex court has agreed to hear a petition by an environmentalist from Uttarakhand seeking removal of the stay so the CBI can finish its investigation, which had pointed to “connivance of forest officers/officials with poachers.” The CBI has also filed an application seeking to lift the stay, citing findings from its preliminary inquiry.
In this case, the Uttarakhand High Court had, on September 4, 2018, ordered a CBI investigation into all poaching cases in the state over the past five years. The HC wanted the agency to examine the “complicity, involvement or collusion” of serving forest officers after it was told that 40 tigers and 272 leopards had died in the state in the past two-and-a-half years. But the Supreme Court stayed the order on October 22, 2018, through an ex-parte order on an appeal filed by retired principal chief conservator of forests (wildlife) and chief wildlife warden D S Khati.
Appearing before a bench led by Chief Justice BR Gavai, advocate Govind Jee, representing environmentalist Atul Sati, brought up the matter and asked for an early hearing. The Supreme Court accepted his request and listed the hearing for November 17.
The petitioner said the High Court had passed its order after considering scientific reports submitted by the Wildlife Institute of India and the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau. He argued that the long stay has blocked any real chance of exposing and breaking the transnational and interstate networks involved in tiger poaching.
Records show that in 2023, the CBI also filed an application to lift the stay and included findings from a month-long inquiry done before the Supreme Court halted the probe. The agency said it had found several irregularities, including attempts by forest officials to hide the death of a tiger.
Referring to one case where tiger and leopard meat and skin were recovered, the CBI said it examined photocopied case files and questioned 38 people, including forest officers, "During inquiry by CBI of this case, photocopy of case records, as made available by the forest department have been scrutinised and 38 persons including forest officials, private persons and accused persons have been examined. CBI inquiry suggests the connivance of forest officers/officials with poachers.” It also said National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) guidelines on handling wildlife deaths were not being followed in Corbett.
“During inquiry, prima-facie connivance of officers/officials of forest department of Uttarakhand has emerged in some cases. Gross negligence of guidelines of NTCA by officers/officials of forest department was also seen,” the CBI said in its report.
"It is further submitted that the direction for a preliminary inquiry by CBI was passed by HC only after perusing the entire record, including the technical reports of Wildlife Institute of India, the report of the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau, and the communication issued by the head of forest force, Uttarakhand, all of which clearly indicate accountability of senior forest officials including the petitioner (Khati) himself, and in view of transnational as well as interstate nature of network of tiger poaching involved in the matter. The order, therefore, was a reasoned judicial determination founded on cogent material and appreciating the urgency, gravity as well as geographical spread of a network of tigers poachers, aimed to eliminate/ mitigate any future threat to safety of tigers," the petition filed by Sati, said.
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