HC seeks list of people allowed to enter forest

A PIL was filed by Cheranda Nand Subbaiah of Virajpet on Tuesday, against Forest Departments at the State and Centre, the PCCF, environmentalist Dr Ullas Karanth, Niren Jain and eight others, challenging the decision of the PCCF to allow the environmentalists to enter the protected areas.

The petitioner has contended that Dr Ullas Karanth controlled several environmental organisations for promotion and self interest and the activities of all these organisations were not open to public. The petitioner further said that the main objective of floating these organisations was to obtain foreign funds, to be used for personal gain and in some cases it had been used to acquire land.

The petitioner also alleged that the respondents distributed funds amongst themselves and were disinterested in protecting the forests. He also referred to the radio collars used for the tiger conservation project in Nagarhole, which eventually led to the death of several tigers. The petitioner referred to a report given by a State constituted committee in 2000, which held some of the respondents responsible for the death of the tigers. Another inquiry in 2004 had also held these environmentalists responsible for unlawful activities, the petitioner stated. They sought a CBI inquiry and the quashing of two orders issued on July 2007 and June 2009 giving permission to Ullas Karanth and Niren Jain respectively to enter State wildlife parks. A  bench headed by Chief Justice P D Dinakaran has also directed the PCCF to submit a report on action taken against inquiry reports.