SC stays Raj bid to denotify 732 ha of Chambal sanctuary

Jaipur: Slamming Rajasthan's govt for "facilitating" illegal sand mining, the Supreme Court Thursday stayed its notification denotifying 732 hectares of the National Chambal Sanctuary, saying it will not allow denotification of any reserve land for protected species.The National Chambal Sanctuary, also called the National Chambal Gharial Wildlife Sanctuary, is a 5,400 sq km tri-state protected area located on the Chambal river near the tripoint of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. The sanctuary was first declared a protected area in Madhya Pradesh in 1978 and now constitutes a long, narrow eco-reserve co-administered by the three states.A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta termed the denotification of 732 hectares area as a "serious issue", adding that the Rajasthan govt's notification has not passed muster through the required statutory requirements.The court has asked the central empowered committee, which works under the ministry of environment, forest and climate change, to conduct a detailed review of the issue."They (state) could not have done it on their own. That is illegal," Justice Mehta told Shiv Mangal Sharma, the additional advocate general appearing for Rajasthan. "The state is in hot water," Justice Mehta added."There is no question. Have you seen that location? Have you been to that location? Go and see how fragile it is. Gharials are now virtually on the verge of extinction. Not only gharials, so many aquatic animals," the bench said.The court also slammed Rajasthan for "facilitating illegal mining". Justice Mehta said, "Now these are the dacoits, these mining mafias. That traditional mode of dacoity is replaced by this."In an oral observation, the bench also said the sand mining mafia, who carry "better weapons than the police" and who kill those who come in their way with impunity, are the "modern dacoits" of Chambal.Justice Mehta said several SDMs, police officers and forest department officials were killed in Rajasthan by the mining mafia. "The problem is that the state govt has completely forgotten that there is a law called preventive detention. Similar thing took place in Jaisalmer where all the windmills were destroyed by these mafias. Complete system was on the verge of collapse," Justice Mehta said.Amicus curiae Nikhil Goyal said the states should respond to the issues flagged by him in his report filed in the court. The bench said the central empowered committee, or CEC, has also filed a report before it on the issue.Rajasthan AAG Shiv Mangal Sharma argued that the move was a limited and scientific "boundary correction". He said, "The denotified land is just about 1% of the sanctuary area in the state and is already urbanised and does not support wildlife. Also, we have not issued any mining leases in the sanctuary."The bench, however, refused and said the state will be heard on the next date of hearing on May 11.