Madhya Pradesh HC orders govt to form committee to implement Biodiversity Act
The high court started hearing the case as a public interest litigation after taking suo motu cognisance of a report published by HT last year
JABALPUR: The Madhya Pradesh high court on Thursday ordered the state government to set up a committee to implement the Biodiversity Act, a person familiar with the matter said.
A bench of chief justice Ravi Malimath and justice Vishal Mishra set a June 30 deadline for the state government to constitute the committee after being told that the government had not taken steps to implement the law despite the high court’s nudge.
“During the hearing, the state government told the high court that letters have been issued to all the district collectors about implementation of the Act…. Now the court asked to form a committee,” said lawyer Anshuman Singh, who was previously appointed amicus curiae, a friend of the court, in the case.
The bench will next take up the case in the first week of July.
The high court started hearing the case as a public interest litigation after taking suo motu cognisance of a report published by HT on May 12, 2023, on protests by tribals against the translocation of Baobab trees by a Hyderabad businessman.
The HT report highlighted the heritage and historical value of the trees, native to Africa, but likely brought to this corner of Madhya Pradesh by African soldiers hired by the local Islamic kingdoms between the 10th and 17th century.
The state government subsequently stripped the forest department of power to permit translocation of Dhar’s famed Baobab trees, and decided that this can be done only by the State Biodiversity Board.
