Lion poaching case: Govt requests for more time

Ahmedabad, Aug 17 (UNI) The government has requested the Gujarat High Court for more time to reply to a Public Interest Litigation, filed in May this year, regarding poaching of lions and other endangered species in the Gir forest.

Mr Chandresh M Rathore had filed the PIL seeking the court's intervention for a CBI inquiry into the incidents of lions being killed with sickening regularity and arrests of the culprits.

In his petition, Mr Rathore said lions exist only at Gir forest and they are invaluable to the eco-system and therefore unless they are protected they would soon vanish from the country.

He said in Gir forest many open wells have become death traps for the lions and lion cubs as these wells do not have parapet walls.

Rathore urged the court to direct the state government to set up night vision and infra-red cameras so that the culprits are identified and caught.

The high court had in May issued notices to state forest department, Union Ministry of Forests, Conservator of forests (Gujarat) and state of Gujarat.

The high court set the next hearing on September 11 on the plea of the government counsel, seeking more time to reply.

UNI