The Hindu : Karnataka News : Clarification

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 20, 2010
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Karnataka

Karnataka

Clarification

In response to the report ‘State Government, Forest Department differ on radio-collaring tigers' in the October 14, 2010 edition of The Hindu, wildlife researcher K. Ullas Karanth writes: The main point of the report that there is a difference of opinion between the Forest Department and the State Government is not true. The State Government has filed only one unanimous response statement before the High Court, to which the Forest Department also is a party.

The key paragraph in the Government's affidavit, which has been ignored in the report, reads as below:

“… the report on which the writ petitioner has based his claim is incomplete and its authenticity is doubtful. The correctness of the same and other documents on which the petitioner is lending credence is also shady and not beyond doubts…the writ petition itself is not maintainable both on merits and on law. The same deserves to be dismissed…”

The radio-collaring project referred to in the report was conducted by me in the early 1990s and completed about 15 years ago.

Various false and mischievous allegations made against me and this project at that time have been thoroughly examined by an expert committee and other relevant authorities a long time ago, and were found to be baseless.

Vested interests

All this outdated material is now being dug up and presented as “new evidence”.

It appears to be the handiwork of some vested interests who are opposed to strict protection of forests and wildlife, a cause for which I and other respondent conservationists have fought over the years.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Karnataka