Judgment :-

K.S. Radhakrishnan, J.

Application for Intervention is allowed.

1. We have been called upon to decide the necessity of a second home for Asiatic Lion (Panthera leo persica), an endangered species, for its long term survival and to protect the species from extinction as issue rooted on eco-centrism, which supports the protection of all wildlife forms, not just those which are of instrumental value to humans but those which have intrinsic worth.

FACTS:

2. The Wildlife Institute of India (for short ‘WII’), an autonomous institution under the Ministry of Environment and Forests (for short ‘MoEF’), Government of India, through its wildlife Biologists had done considerable research at the Gir Forest in the State of Gujarat since 1986.

All those studies were geared to provide data which would help for the better management of the Gir forest and enhance the prospects for the long term conservation of lions at Gir, a single habitat of Asiatic lion in the world. The data collected by the Wildlife Biologists highlighted the necessity of a second natural habitat for its long term conservation. Few of the scientists had identified the Asiatic lions as a prime candidate for a re-introduct