Day After Female Cheetah ‘Sasha’ Dies, Supreme Court Seeks Qualifications Of Experts On Environment Ministry’s Task Force

One day after the death of Sasha, a female Cheetah brought from Namibia and released in Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno, the absence of experts in the Cheetah Task Force was flagged before the Supreme Court of India. The four-and-a-half-year-old feline died on March 27 due to renal failure less than a year after she was translocated to the Kuno National Park, along with seven other cheetahs. After Senior Advocate Prashanto Chandra Sen claimed that the Environment Ministry-appointed task force “did not have a single member with expertise in cheetah management”, a bench of Justices BR Gavai and Vikram Nath directed: “We request the learned Additional Solicitor-General to place on record the details, on an affidavit, with regard to the qualification and experience of the members of the task force and also specify as to which of the members possess an expertise in cheetah management within two weeks.” The division bench was hearing an application moved by an expert committee constituted to “guide and direct” the National Tiger Conservation Authority with respect to India’s ambitious cheetah reintroduction programme. Senior Advocate Sen was representing this expert committee which was constituted by the Supreme Court in 2020. Their plea was that the statutory body ought to keep the court-appointed committee apprised of the latest developments and accept their advice and submissions in this matter. Another application that was being heard along with the committee’s appeal was the centre’s request to ‘remove’ the committee, as Additional Solicitor-General Aishwarya Bhati pointed out. The Union Government’s contention was that it was no longer necessary and mandatory for the NTCA to continue taking the guidance and advice of the expert committee appointed by the apex court. Earlier, the bench had signalled a strong disinclination to interfere with the centre’s plan to release these felines translocated from the African continent, into the wild in India. Justice Gavai had lamented, “We are expanding the work of this court by appointing these committees we have to supervise and which in turn, report to us. We are becoming almost like micro-administrators.” Justice Gavai reiterated their position on Tuesday that unless some alarming detail was unearthed or it was found that the task force has been completely neglecting its duties, the court would not intervene. “This is a matter of international prestige. The cheetahs have brought and now, must be properly settled and looked after. Globally, this is the biggest translocation of cheetahs on such a large scale,” Sen told the bench, as he emphasised that the court-appointed committee comprising the foremost cheetah experts in the country could offer valuable advice with respect to the ‘initial handling’ of the felines. “Our only submission is, the government should have some humility to learn from the experts.” The additional solicitor-general, on the other hand, placed before the bench, the government’s action plan for the introduction of cheetahs in India. “The action plan has been prepared in consultation with scientists, veterinarians, forest officers, and cheetah experts from India, Namibia, South Africa, the United States of America, etc.,” Bhati said. While making a request for a copy of the action plan, Sen told the bench, “I don't know about this application but the task force notified by the government has no experts. As per my instructions, none of them has any idea about cheetahs.” The bench agreed to hear the applications after two weeks and directed the centre to submit the details with regard to the qualification and experience of the members of the task force appointed by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, specifying which of them possessed expertise in cheetah management.It was on January 29, 2020 that the Court passed the order to constitute a Committee of Experts to supervise and survey Centre's plan to introduce African Cheetahs in the territory of India Case Title Centre for Environment Law WWF-I v. Union of India | WP (C) No 337/1995Click Here To Read/Download Order

Day After Female Cheetah ‘Sasha’ Dies, Supreme Court Seeks Qualifications Of Experts On Environment Ministry’s Task Force

Awstika Das

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