Supreme court orders Jharkhand to notify Saranda as wildlife sanctuary within three months

The Supreme court on Thursday ordered the State of Jharkhand to declare the entire Saranda Game Sanctuary area as a wildlife sanctuary within three months.

The Court held that the area measuring 31,468.25 hectares, which was notified as Saranda Game Sanctuary in 1968 and consists of 126 forest compartments, must now be declared as a wildlife sanctuary.

A Bench of Chief Justice of India BR Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran passed the verdict after noting that the State had altered its position more than once and attempted to reduce the size of the notified area at the last stage.

The judgment was passed on a plea by one Dr. Daya Shankar Srivastava, a resident of Jharkhand's Palama, seeking directions to the State of Jharkhand to declare the Saranda Game Sanctuary with area of 314.68 sq. km. as notified by the 1968 Notification by the erstwhile State of Bihar as a deemed sanctuary under the provisions of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.

The Saranda forest is one of most pristine Sal forests in the world. It is a biodiversity hotspot, interconnected with forests in the States of Odisha and Chhattisgarh, creating a contiguous wildlife corridor. The region is rich in biodiversity and wildlife and includes within its confines the critically endangered and endemic Sal Forest Tortoise, four horned antelope, Asian palm civet, wild

The Bench recorded that the State had first admitted that no mining operations were carried out in the area measuring 31,468.25 hectare and the same had never been diverted for non-forest purposes except for a very small portion measuring 4.31 hectares.

The Court also reaffirmed that the power to declare a sanctuary under the Wildlife Protection Act is a power coupled with a duty.

Under Articles 48A and 51A(g) of the Constitution, the State is bound to protect forests and wildlife and statutory protection becomes necessary once an area of ecological, faunal, floral, geomorphological or zoological significance is identified, the Bench said.

The top court noted the argument by the State that tribal habitations or basic public facilities would have to be demolished was unfounded.

It pointed to Section 24(2)(c) of the Wildlife Protection Act, which allows continuation of existing rights even inside a sanctuary and to Sections 3 and 4 of the Forest Rights Act which recognise habitation rights, cultivation rights, community forest resource rights, grazing, minor forest produce and other customary rights of forest dwelling Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers.

The judgment said these rights remain untouched by the declaration of a sanctuary and that the claim of adverse impact was a misconception.

Towards this end, the Court ordered State of Jharkhand to give wide publicity to the fact that neither individual nor community rights of tribals or forest dwellers will be affected by the declaration of the wildlife sanctuary and that their rights will remain protected under Section 3 and Section 4 of the Forest Rights Act.

The Court also reiterated the direction issued in April 2023 that there shall be no mining inside any national park or wildlife sanctuary or within one kilometre of their boundaries. This direction had originally been applied to Goa but was later extended across the country.

The Court has placed on record its appreciation for the assistance rendered by Amicus Curiae K Parameshwar and his team, and acknowledged Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal for Jharkhand, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta for Steel Authority of India and advocate Shibani Ghosh for applicant Dr Dayanand Shankar Srivastava.

[Read Judgment]