The Supreme Court on Wednesday decided to hear a petition that raised serious issues of illegal structures connected to eco-tourism in Odisha’s Satkosia Tiger Reserve.
A bench led by Chief Justice B R Gavai and including Justices K Vinod Chandran and Joymalya Bagchi decided to put the issue on board for hearing next week, as per an urgent plea by lawyer Gaurav Kumar, Bansal.
Bansal informed the court that permissions were issued by district officials for the construction of an eco-tourism complex in a protected forest.
“The district collector has given such permissions for the construction of an eco-tourism place. How can this be allowed?” Bansal questioned, insisting, “I am fighting merely for forests.”
Satkosia Tiger Reserve: A Critical Habitat Under Threat
Satkosia Tiger Reserve is spread across the districts of Angul, Cuttack, Nayagarh, and Boudh in Odisha. It houses key habitat for tigers, elephants, and other threatened species.
The plea is against interim no-objection certificates (NOCs) allegedly issued by district collectors, terming them jurisdictionally incorrect and against the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
The petitioner referred to a 2018 instruction of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), making it obligatory for all the states to demarcate eco-sensitive zones (ESZs) of at least a kilometer radius surrounding tiger reserves, particularly where there were no buffer zones or fragmented ones.
Under the plea, the Odisha government’s latest ESZ proposal for Satkosia, filed with the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, is in deviation from these standards, with “zero-kilometre” limits suggested in certain parts, at the cost of ecological safety.
Legal Violations and Executive Overreach Cited
“The grant of NOCs by district collectors and non-forest authorities is an unconstitutional usurpation of legislative powers,” the petition says.
The petitioner also charged the state government and its organizations with weakening central environmental rules by taking procedural shortcuts and executive excesses, such as initiatives to dilute ESZ protections for tourism-fueled development.
Call to Withdraw Draft ESZ Proposal
The petition requests the court to instruct the Odisha government to withdraw its present ESZ draft and pursue more stringent enforcement of NTCA and environmental legislation. “There are large-scale and systemic issues threatening Satkosia’s ecological and legal framework,” the plea continues.
