The Supreme Court on Wednesday imposed a ban on Tiger Safari in core areas of Jim Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand. As per the order, the tiger safari would now be allowed only in the peripheral and buffer zones of the reserved forest Jim Corbett National Park. The SC came down heavily on the Uttarakhand government, issuing directives for the conservation of tigers, which includes the ban on safari tours in core areas of the national park. The court will also determine whether safaris can be done in the buffer area.The Supreme Court further directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to submit an interim report on the investigation conducted so far within three months.
Earlier this year, the Supreme Court had also told the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) that its plan to have a tiger safari on the lines of a zoo within a national park, as envisaged at the Jim Corbett National Park, cannot be permitted as the approach has to be "animal-centric" and not "tourism-centric".The issue came to the Court after a petition filed by environment activist and lawyer Gaurav Bansal challenged the Uttarakhand government's proposal to have a tiger safari, meant as a specialised zoo with caged animals, at the Jim Corbett National Park. The top court also slammed former Uttarakhand Forest Minister Harak Singh Rawat and then divisional forest officer Kishan Chand for illegal constructions and felling of trees in Corbett Tiger Reserve. Rawat and Chand were also called for indulging in commercial purposes, leading to the mass illicit failing of trees. The court said, "They have thrown the public trust doctrine in the wastebin."