The Uttarakhand High Court has given the State two weeks to State whether the investigation into alleged anomalies in Corbett tiger reserve and the Forest Department be transferred to the CBI or not. In its directions issued last week in a writ petition filed by Animal Welfare Board of India co-opted member Gauri Maulekhi, the HC has also sought information about the progress being made in the CBCID investigation into these allegations.
According to Maulekhi, a sting operation she had conducted in Corbett in 2012 had exposed mismanagement and sale of intoxicants. “The principal secretary, Forest and Corbett director were informed about the anomalies and later the Corbett deputy director conducted an inquiry on the instructions of the chief wildlife warden after which it was declared that the complainant was at fault. I had sought a CBCID inquiry which was approved in January 2014 but due to the involvement of high ranking officers in the anomalies, the CBCID is prolonging the inquiry and not conducting it fairly,” she alleged.
Maulekhi had filed a writ in the HC on this issue on which Justice UC Dhyani has asked the counsel for the State to seek instructions in the matter as to whether the investigation be transferred to CBI or not.
Secondly, the HC should be apprised of the progress in the investigation being conducted by the CBCID within two weeks, stated Justice Dhyani in the direction.
According to Maulekhi, in addition to the alleged anomalies, she has also requested that the scope of the CBI inquiry also cover the case of information about poaching and wildlife crime being communicated to the chief wildlife warden without any action being initiated by the officer concerned.