NEW DELHI: India's ambition to re-introduce the world's fastest wild animal – Cheetah – into the Indian wilds suffered a major blow when the country's highest judicial court, the Supreme Court of India, issued an injunction against the move. India's Environment and Forest Ministry had mooted the proposal and earmarked $ 2.4 millon for the project, which involved trans-location of the spotted cat from Namibia to a sanctuary in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. Justices KS Radhakrishnan and CK Prasad of the Supreme Court granted the injunction when amicus curiae PS Narasimha and P Parameshwar sought the stay. The two senior lawyers alleged that the Environment and Forest Ministry's project had not been approved by the autonomous National Wildlife Board and was contrary to the guidelines of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) for such relocation of wild species. Interestingly, the two lawyers voiced before the apex court the apprehensions cited about the project by a member of the National Wildlife Board, Prerna Bindra, of the mismatch between the quantum of funds the ministry has earmarked for the Cheetah project and one for Tigers, which are also endangered in India. Bindra is believed to have told the two lawyers that the total funds earmarked for the Tiger project was a meager $ 16 million and it involves as many as 600 sanctuaries and national parks. In contrast, the Cheetah re-introduction program will take place only in one sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh and it has been allocated a whopping $ 2.4 million. The Supreme Court immediately granted the stay on the Cheetah project when this was brought to its notice and has asked the Environment and Forest Ministry to respond to the allegation. The court has also asked the ministry to produce all the records relating to the project for Cheetah trans-location at the next date of hearing.
