Project Tiger — SC summons chief secys

NEW DELHI, July 14: Irked by the non-representation of states in a case pertaining to saving tigers from being extinct, the Supreme Court today asked Chief Secretaries of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Assam and Nagaland to either present before the court personally or file their replies within four weeks. A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice A S Anand and Justice M Jagannadha Rao asked these Chief Secretaries and other states who have not filed replies till date to furnish their affidavits by the next date of hearing.

"Lapse on their part would be seriously viewed," warned the Chief Justice. Additional Solicitor General Altaf Ahmed said the Union Government would file a comprehensive supplementary affidavit after the states file their reply to the public interest litigation seeking steps from the government towards saving tigers.

The petition filed by one Navin M Raheja said that poaching of tiger has reduced its population from 40,000 by the turn of this century to a mere 4,000-odd at present.He said if serious, effective and time-bound measures were not taken, it was feared that tigers would be extinct in India in the next few years as on on average one tiger was killed every day in the forests. Raheja had said though Project Tiger was started in 1973 with the establishment of nine tiger reserves, the animal has already become extinct in four places.