The Supreme Court on Thursday issued a notice to Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala and others on a petition filed by Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MP Anubhav Mohanty seeking action against the practice of encouraging and rewarding wild mal killings.
A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sharad Arvind Bobde issued notices to the respondents, tagged the matter with Kerala elephant death case and fixed the matter for further hearing without giving any date.
"We are looking at this matter with anxiety. We want to know the extent the forest authorities are doing, the destruction of things and all things," CJI Bobde said.
Senior lawyer Siddharth Luthra, appearing for Mohanty, said there are two different aspects. "The expansion of humans in these areas, creates problems and encroaching the area, may create a problem for mals," Luthra said.
"Please look at the solution, find out," the CJI asked the petitioner.
Anubhav Mohanty, a Lok Sabha MP from Kendrapara constituency in Odisha, had moved the Supreme Court seeking action and direction against the practice of encouraging and rewarding wild mal killing in India and alleged that many state governments, including Bihar, Himachal Pradesh and Kerala have even financially incentivised the killing of certain wild mals.
Unfortunately, a popular way of getting rewarded by the State Governments is by planting bombs and poisons in our forests, Mohanty said in his petition.
The petition sought for proactive, constructive and a scientific way forward to mitigate human, wildlife conflict instead of encouraging citizens of the country to kills such wild mals.
"Currently there are no proper guidelines in place for the purpose of dealing with man-mal conflict. This has led to the emergence of haphazard, unscientific and excessive policies being exercised by central and state governments," the plea said.
"Not only do mals and children suffer because of these violent actions, but our farmers also incur heavy losses due to the inaction of governments. By expediting financial compensation for crop damage, we must support our food givers," it added.
( With inputs from ANI )