Application Filed to Vacate 2018 Supreme Court Stay, Citing Concealment of Evidence Including WII Findings
An activist from Uttarakhand, Atul Sati, has filed an application in the Supreme Court (SC) seeking the vacation of a seven-year-old stay on a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into alleged tiger poaching at Corbett National Park. Sati claims the SC was misled by the then Uttarakhand chief wildlife warden when the stay was granted in 2018.
Allegations of Concealed Facts and Misleading the Court
Sati filed the application on November 1, alleging that crucial facts, including the findings of the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), were concealed from the Supreme Court when it issued a notice and stayed the Uttarakhand High Court (HC) order in October 2018.
The SC stay was granted on an appeal by the then chief wildlife warden, DS Khati, who argued that the HC ordered the CBI probe solely based on newspaper reports without hearing the state or its officials.
Sati’s application, filed through advocate Govind Jee, directly challenges Khati’s argument:
- He contends that the CBI probe was ordered after “damning facts” were presented to the HC, including the recovery of tiger skins from Nepal.
- Sati states the WII attested that these recovered skins were of Corbett tigers, indicating an international syndicate behind the crime that necessitates an expert agency like the CBI.
- The application also challenges the claim that the state was not heard, noting that Khati himself had filed an affidavit in the high court.
Clerical Error and ‘Undue Advantage’
The HC order for the CBI probe was issued in a common proceeding combining pleas from 2012 and 2017 concerning illegal constructions and a high-level probe into poaching. Sati alleges that Khati took “undue” and “highly unethical advantage” of an inadvertent clerical error where the HC passed the order referencing the 2012 petition, despite the bulk of the evidence being filed in the 2017 plea. Khati allegedly used this error to argue to the SC that the probe order was issued without giving the forest department officers a chance to respond.
Call for Vacation of Stay
Sati is urging the Supreme Court to vacate the stay, warning that its “prolonged” duration has “stymied chances of detecting as well as dismantling the transnational as well as trans state network” behind the poaching, which reportedly extends to Nepal, Uttar Pradesh, and Haryana, and “which may still be active.”
Sati mentioned that he decided to approach the SC now after learning about a separate order directing a probe against Uttarakhand government officers for alleged felling of trees and illegal construction for a safari project at Corbett. He also claimed Khati was indicted over tiger poaching, citing a 2018 letter from the Uttarakhand forest force head.