The Supreme Court Wednesday restrained authorities from carrying out any construction within core areas in tiger reserves, national parks and wildlife sanctuaries.
A bench of Justices B R Gavai and Vikram Nath ticked off the setting up of zoos and safaris inside tiger reserves and national parks and sought a response from the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) on it.
The court was hearing a plea in PIL by advocate Gaurav Bansal, raising issues such as alleged illegal constructions in tiger reserves and the establishment of a tiger safari in the buffer area of Corbett Tiger Reserve in Uttarakhand.
"Until further orders, we restrain the authorities from doing any construction within the core areas notified in tiger reserves, national parks and wildlife sanctuaries," the bench said.
The court-constituted panel, Central Empowered Committee (CEC) had earlier asked the Union Environment Ministry to amend or withdraw guidelines related to setting up zoos and safaris within tiger reserves and wildlife sanctuaries to discourage the use of wildlife habitats for tourism activities.