A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court has vacated its stay on ecotourism activities in the South Wayanad Forest Division and allowed the government to carry on with the ecotourism projects under the forest division
The order was passed on a batch of petitions filed by tourist guides seeking to lift the stay and allow ecotourism activities in the South Wayanad Forest Division, subject to conditions in the approval order granted by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests dated 24.4.2019.
Non-forest activity
The stay on tourism activities was granted on a petition filed by the Wayanad Paristhithi Smrakshana Samithi on the ground that the Central government had not approved the ecotourism projects in the forest. Therefore, it was a non-forest activity coming under the Forest(Conservation) Act, 1980, the petitioner contended.
Vacating the stay order, the court said that the Union government having issued requisite orders to carry on with the ecotourism activities, there was no substance in the contentions advanced by the petitioner now.
The court also made it clear that the orders passed by the State government with respect to the COVID-19 pandemic and in the interest of protecting the environment and forests should be strictly and scrupulously implemented while permitting tourists. Any violation in that regard would be viewed strictly by the court. The court also directed the State government to ensure that the conditions in the approval order issued by the Centre were implemented strictly and without failure.
