Responding to a Public Interest Litigation from a Bhopal based wildlife enthusiast Ajay Dubey, the Madhya Pradesh high court has slapped notices to Madhya Pradesh Government and others over alleged breach of norms in the constitution of State Wildlife Board in Madhya Pradesh.

The order regarding constitution of 30-member MP State Wildlife Board (MPSWB) was issued on Aug 3 and nomination of three members with ‘special interest in wildlife’ has raised many eyebrows among wildlife conservationists.

These members include –senior journalist Rasheed Kidwai, Krishna Kumar Singh from Sindhi district in Madhya Pradesh who is the nephew of late union minister Arjun Singh and Brijendra Singh from New Delhi who is said to be a member of a royal family from Rajasthan.

KK Singh’s son runs a tourist resort at Bandhavgarh in Umaria district which boasts of the six tiger reserves of the state.

“The board holds crucial importance in conservation and protection of wildlife especially in a state like Madhya Pradesh which recently claimed the Tiger State tag but it seems the board has been re-constituted with members getting appointed not on the basis of their professional expertise but because of affiliation to a particular party,” said the petitioner in his PIL.

The process of re-constitution of the board smells of foul play, nepotism, corruption and favouritism, petitioner Ajay Dubey alleged in the PIL.

The Section 6 (1) (e) of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 clearly states that the board must comprise people who have been working in the field of wildlife conservation and not people with ‘special interest in wildlife’, petitioner’s lawyer Aditya Sanghi told.