‘Will not allow anyone to touch Aravalli’, says SC; refuses nod for Haryana’s zoo safari plan
The Supreme Court on Thursday said it will not allow “anyone to touch the Aravallis”, refusing to permit the Haryana Government to submit a detailed plan on jungle safari till a definition of “Aravalli range” is clarified by experts.
A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi said that the issue of jungle safari will be dealt with when it considers the main matter on the Aravalli range.
Counsel for Haryana said that they have revised the detailed project report (DPR) of the safari project from 10,000 acres to over 3,300 acres. He said all they want is to be allowed to furnish the DPR to the central empowered committee (CEC) for their examination.
The bench said, “We are not experts. The experts will decide the definition of Aravalli. Till the definition of the Aravalli range is finalised, we will not allow anyone to touch the Aravallis.”
CJI Kant said that the Aravalli is not only of Haryana or Rajasthan but it is a range which traverses many states.
“We will deal with this issue of safari with the main matter,” he told the counsel for the Haryana Government, who said that the main matter is altogether different and the issue of safari is different.
“Sometimes, the CEC is also very selective in giving its permission. If we permit this, they will give a very rosy picture that these are the trees, wildlife and forests,” the bench observed.
CJI Kant said that once the expert committee’s opinion comes, it will deal with the safari project.
In October last year, the top court stalled the proposed mega ‘Aravali Zoo Safari project’, touted to be the world’s biggest zoo-safari by the Haryana Government. The Zoo Safari project aims to set up big cat zones and house hundreds of species of birds, reptiles and butterflies in an area of 10,000 acres in the eco-fragile Aravalli range in Gurgaon and Nuh districts.
