Akansha Upadhyay
Published on: 01 December 2022 at 18:39 IST
The Supreme Court sought the government’s response on developing a ‘Project Great Indian Bustard’ conservation program like ‘Project Tiger’ to address the crisis faced by the critically endangered bird species. Project Tiger is considered by the government to be one of the most successful conservation programs for a single species in the world.
“Can we not have a focussed approach by the Environment Ministry involving something like ‘Project Tiger’? Take instructions on it. Have a word with the Minister and come back to us on it,” Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud addressed Attorney General R. Venkataramani and Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the government.
The court was hearing a series of petitions that have highlighted the deaths of Great Indian bustards in Gujarat and Rajasthan due to criss-crossing of power transmission lines.
In its order, the special bench, comprising Justice AS Bopanna and V. Ramasubramanian directed the Chief Secretaries of Gujarat and Rajasthan to undertake and complete a comprehensive exercise within four weeks to ascertain the total length of the respective transmission lines and the number of bird diverters required in priority areas of the birds’ habitats
Expert committee
The court, however, was not ready, for the time being, to agree to the Centre’s plea to expand its expert committee set up in April 2022 to study the problem. The government wanted the court to allow Additional Secretary, Ministry of Renewable Energy, and Chief Operating Officer, Central Transmission Utility of India Limited (CTUIL), to join the committee as domain experts on transmission lines.
Instead, the bench said that the expert committee was free to consult the CTUIL officer for his expert opinion for now. The court also asked the government to tap institutional experts from IITs on electricity transmission and connected study areas.
The court sought a report on the steps taken for tendering process and to install bird diverters. It said that the bird diverters should comply with the quality norms laid down by the expert committee in consultation with the CTUIL official.