Nainital (Uttarakhand): The Uttarakhand High Court, while hearing a bunch of Public Interest Litigations (PILs) over the rampant felling of trees in the Jim Corbett National Park as well as illegal constructions inside the sanctuary, issued a directive to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to investigate the case.
A PIL was filed by Dehradun resident Anu Pant and the court took suo-motu cognizance and clubbed other petitions. A division bench of Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Alok Kumar Verma handed over the case to the CBI and directed the investigating agencies of Uttarakhand to cooperate with the central probe agency.
The counsel of the petitioner reminded that earlier the Chief Secretary SS Sandhu had been asked by the High Court to take action against the culprits regarding the illegal cutting of trees a year ago. Around 6,000 trees have been cut illegally so far and investigations were carried out by five probe panels but no action was taken against the culprits, the petitioner stated.
