Raipur: A prominent judgement in the Chhattisgarh High Court was based on a PIL where lifelong imprisonment of wild buffaloes that were transported from Assam to Barnawapara Wildlife Sanctuary was in question. A division bench hearing it with Chief Justice Ramesh Sinha & Justice Ravindra Agrawal led to the direct notice to the Forest Department to file a detailed reply within four weeks.
In the PIL, the petitioner, Nitin Singhvi, opposes the continuing captivity of the buffaloes by the Forest Department and disapproves of the CZA’s dismissal of the breeding plan. The Forest Department had two wild buffalo imports from Assam in 2020, one male and one female, and four more female buffaloes were imported in April 2023 as part of the population conservation measure to prevent the dwindling of the wild buffalo population in Chhattisgarh.
Singhvi’s petition pointed to the conditions of the transfer agreement with Assam that required the four females brought in April 2023 to be released to the wild in 45 days. But more than a year has passed, and these buffaloes, along with the second pair rescued in the year 2020, are still confined at Barnawapara Sanctuary.
The High court was told that the buffaloes were for cross-breeding, with the only purebred wild buffalo in Chhattisgarh known as Chotu, who is now about 22-23 years old. As a result of natural reasons, Chotu can no longer reproduce because he is probably too old at this stage of his life. For this reason, the Forest Department approached the CZA for the breeding of Assam buffaloes with Chhattisgarh’s wild crossbreds, and the CZA turned down the proposal under the ground of crossbreeding with an impure variety.
Further, the CZA had permitted almost on the condition for the construction of a breeding centre at Barnawapara but had not accorded the final permission to take the step as the said Wildlife (Protection) Act does not permit the setting up of breeding centres in sanctuaries. It also faults this provisional approval by the PIL since it counters legal and advisory measures in place.
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