The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued notices to the Centre, the Odisha government, the Central Empowered Committee (CEC), and other authorities, seeking responses to a petition challenging unauthorized construction and tourism projects in and around Odisha’s Satkosia Tiger Reserve. The bench, comprising Chief Justice B.R. Gavai, Justices K. Vinod Chandran, and N.V. Anjaria, acted on a plea by advocate Gaurav Kumar Bansal, who demanded the quashing of provisional No Objection Certificates (NOCs) issued by district collectors of Angul, Nayagarh, Boudh, and Cuttack for development activities violating environmental and wildlife laws.

Satkosia Tiger Reserve, a 1,136.7 sq km sanctuary notified in 2007, spans the Satkosia Gorge and Baisipalli Wildlife Sanctuaries across four districts, hosting endangered species like tigers, Asian elephants, gharials, and mugger crocodiles. A Ramsar site for its aquatic and avian biodiversity, it faces threats from unchecked tourism infrastructure, including a proposed high-level bridge over the Mahanadi River and commercial hotels, planned without mandatory approvals from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC). Bansal’s plea alleges that district collectors issued NOCs without legal authority, bypassing the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, and Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.

The petition criticizes Odisha’s draft Eco-Sensitive Zone (ESZ) proposal, which controversially suggests a “zero-kilometer” buffer in areas like the Satkosia Gorge, defying the National Tiger Conservation Authority’s (NTCA) 2018 directive mandating a minimum 1-km ESZ around core tiger habitats. “How can district collectors permit eco-tourism spots in a protected reserve?” Bansal argued, highlighting a shift from conservation to commercialization that violates NTCA’s 2012 guidelines and MoEFCC’s 2021 eco-tourism norms, which prohibit permanent structures and prioritize low-impact, community-based tourism.

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Bansal’s plea accuses the Odisha government of systemic violations through “procedural shortcuts and executive overreach,” undermining central environmental regulations. The cancellation of a bridge tender on March 28, after it was revealed to lack MoEFCC clearance, underscores these lapses. The petition seeks to withdraw the draft ESZ proposal and halt all unauthorized constructions, warning of “irreparable harm” to the reserve’s ecological integrity. The court’s intervention follows its July 23 agreement to hear the case, prompted by Bansal’s concerns about the “unlawful usurpation” of statutory powers by non-forest authorities.

Environmentalists have long cautioned that such projects threaten Satkosia’s delicate ecosystem, critical for biodiversity conservation. The Supreme Court’s scrutiny signals a potential turning point in balancing development with wildlife protection, with responses due from stakeholders before the next hearing.

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