The High Court of Karnataka has directed the Karnataka State Board for Wildlife to decide afresh the proposal submitted by the Chief Conservator of Forests (CCF), Bengaluru region, for declaring Hesarghatta Grasslands as ‘Greater Hesaraghatta Conservation Reserve’ area.
A Division Bench comprising acting Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice S. Vishwajith Shetty passed the Order while disposing of two PIL petitions filed by environmentalist Vijay Nishanth and others.
The petitioners had questioned the legality of the decision, taken by the Board at its 15th meeting on January 19, 2021, rejecting the proposal to declare Hesaraghatta Grasslands comprising of 5,010 acres as ‘Greater Hesaraghatta Grasslands Conserve Reserve’.
‘Cavalier manner’
“In our opinion, the Board has passed the order [to reject the proposal] in a cryptic and cavalier manner without advertising to the relevant criteria as prescribed in Section 36A of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972,”, the Bench observed.
Since the Board’s order is “cryptic and suffers from the vice of non-application of mind, the same cannot be sustained in the eyes of the law”, the Bench said while quashing the Board’s January 19, 2021, decision. The Bench remitted the matter back to the Board to take a fresh decision.
The petitioners had claimed that the then Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa, as the chairperson of the Board, had dropped the proposal without considering the opinions and recommendations of other members, who were experts on the subject.
The petitioners had pointed out that the chairperson had dropped the proposal after S.R. Vishwanath, MLA of Yelahanka constituency, who was a special invitee to the meeting, had opposed the proposal for declaration of ‘Greater Hesaraghatta Grasslands Conservation Reserve’ stating such a declaration would come in the way of development works in the area as already there is shortage of government land.
Reservoirs of biodiversity
The petitioners had argued that the CCF had made the proposal as Hesarghatta lakebed and grasslands are important reservoirs of biodiversity and a refuge for endangered wildlife species, besides being home to over 130 species of birds, mammals, and butterflies.
