SC Seeks Qualifications Of Experts On Environment Ministry’s Task Force The Day After Female Cheetah ‘Sasha’ Dies

The absence of specialists in the Cheetah Task Force was raised before the Supreme Court of India one day after the death of Sasha, a female Cheetah brought from Namibia and released in Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno.

The four-and-a-half-year-old feline died on March 27 from renal failure, less than a year after being relocated to Kuno National Park with seven other cheetahs.

Senior Attorney Prashanto Chandra Sen claimed that the Environment Ministry appointed task force “did not have a single member with expertise in cheetah management”.

A bench of Justices BR Gavai and Vikram Nath directed, “We request the learned Additional Solicitor-General to place on record the details, on an affidavit, with regard to the qualification and experience of the members of the task force and also specify as to which of the members possess an expertise in cheetah management within two weeks.”

The division bench was hearing an application moved by an expert committee constituted to “guide and direct” the National Tiger Conservation Authority with respect to India’s ambitious cheetah reintroduction programme.

This expert group, which was established by the Supreme Court in 2020, was represented by Senior Advocate Sen. They argued that the statutory authority should inform the court-appointed committee of any latest developments and take their recommendations and arguments into consideration. The centre’s plea to “remove” the committee was being heard alongside the committee’s appeal, as Additional Solicitor-General Aishwarya Bhati noted. The argument made by the Centre was that the NTCA was no longer required to follow the counsel and guidance of the expert committee appointed by the apex court.

Previously, the bench expressed strong opposition to the Centre’s proposal to release these felines translocated from the African continent into the wild in India.

“We are expanding the work of this court by appointing these committees we have to supervise and which report to us. We’re starting to resemble micromanagers,” Justice Gavai lamented. Justice Gavai reiterated on Tuesday that the court would not intervene unless some alarming detail was discovered or it was discovered that the task force had been totally neglecting its responsibilities.

“This is a matter of international prestige. The cheetahs have arrived and must now be adequately settled and cared for. Globally, this is the largest translocation of cheetahs on such a large scale,” Sen told the bench, emphasising that the court-appointed committee comprised of the country’s top cheetah experts could provide valuable guidance on the felines’ initial handling. “Our only suggestion is that the government should have some humility and learn from the experts,” Sen further added.

The additional solicitor-general, on the other hand, presented the government’s action plan for the introduction of cheetahs in India to the court. “The action plan was developed in collaboration with scientists, veterinarians, forest officers, and cheetah experts from India, Namibia, South Africa, the United States of America, and other countries,” Bhati said. While requesting a copy of the action plan, Sen informed the bench, “I don’t know about this application, but the task force notified by the government has no experts. According to my orders, none of them know anything about cheetahs.”

The bench agreed to hear the applications after two weeks and ordered the Centre to submit information about the qualifications and experience of the task force members appointed by the Ministry of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change, specifying which of them had expertise in cheetah management.

On January 29, 2020, the Court passed an order establishing a Committee of Experts to oversee and survey the Centre’s plan to introduce African Cheetahs into Indian territory.