Wildlife act: Case registered against Ullas Karanth

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal"><span style="" font-family:="" arial="">MANGALORE: Forest Offence cases under the provisions of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 have been registered against noted conservationist Ullas Karanth and four others by the Forest Department.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-family:="" arial="">Four others, against whom cases have been registered, are Niren Jain from Mangalore, trustees of Kudremukh Wildlife Foundation (KWF) Rohit Rao of Mangalore, Ram Mohan Rao of Puttur, Anand V P of Bangalore.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-family:="" arial="">According to Anita S Arekal, Deputy Conservator of Forests, Kudremukh Wildlife Division, Karkala, the cases in the court of JMFC, Mudigere, are for conducting of research, various counts of photography and other activities without the permit.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-family:="" arial="">She alleged the accused have not paid the fees for photography and for entry, adding the offences were punishable by three years imprisonment, she added.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-family:="" arial="">She said that huge quantity of material has been recovered from the seized computer and disks from the office of Niren Jain of KWF.It may be recalled that Arekal had conducted a raid on Jain''s office on April 22.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-family:="" arial="">The complexity and involvement of Jain and others in various other cases is under investigation, she observed.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-family:="" arial="">Arekal further stated that Jain has been granted anticipatory bail from a sessions court and he has to report to the Range forest Officer, Karkala, at regular intervals.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-family:="" arial="">She alleged that Jain was being paid a salary of Rs 15,000 per month with other perks and allowances from the foreign funding agencies through KWF for their Community Leadership for Tiger Conservation (CLTC) Project.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-family:="" arial="">The forest officer further alleged they have been working without any permit and had gone to the Central Empowered Committee asking for the permit. As per the Wildlife Protection Act, only the Chief Wildlife Warden is statutorily empowered to grant the permit, she noted.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-family:="" arial="">She claimed that the Stae Government has gone on appeal against the orders of the Central Empowered Committee in application No 375 to the Supreme Court.</span></div> </div>