BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court issued a notice to the state government, Karnataka State Wildlife Board and others on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) questioning notification issued to re-constitute the Karnataka State Wildlife Board and nomination of certain individuals to the Board. A division bench of Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Suraj Govindaraj was hearing a petition filed by GM Bhoja Raju, a resident of JP Nagar.
The petitioner questioned the notifications dated October 16, 2020, which was issued to reconstitute the Board and nomination of 10 individuals including Alok Vishwanath, son of BJP MLA SR Vishwanath and two journalists. The petitioner contended that the re-constitution contravenes the very provision under which the state government exercised discretion. Also, it said that none of the 10 people nominated have the ‘eminence’ either in conservation, ecology and environment.
This apart, there is no representative amongst the 10 nominated to represent the interests of Scheduled Tribes, as required under the law, the petitioner claimed. The petitioner contended that the 15th meeting of the board, which was the first meeting of the newly-constituted board, was held on January 19, 2021 in the presence of a special invitee BJP MLA SR Vishwanath, in violation of the Karnataka State Board for Wildlife Rules.