THE WILD LIFE (PROTECTION) AMENDMENT ACT, 2006
(ACT No. 39 OF 2006)
AN
ACT
further to amend the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972.
BE it enacted by Parliament in the Fifty-seventh Year of the Republic of
India as follows:—
1) This Act may be called the Wild Life (Protection) Amendment Act, 2006.
(2) It shall come into force on such date as the Central Government may,
by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint.
2.—After Chapter IVA of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 (53 of 1972)
(hereinafter referred to as the principal Act), the following Chapters shall be
inserted, namely:—
CHAPTER IVB
NATIONAL TIGER CONSERVATION AUTHORITY
38K. In this Chapter,—
(a) “National Tiger Conservation Authority” means the Tiger Conservation
Authority constituted under section 38L;
(b) “Steering Committee” means the Committee constituted under section
38U;
(c) “Tiger Conservation Foundation” means the foundation established
under section 38X;
(d) “Tiger Reserve State” means a state having tiger reserve;
(e) “Tiger Reserve” means the area notified as such under section 38V.
38L. (1) The Central Government shall constitute a body to be known as the
National Tiger Conservation Authority (hereinafter in this Chapter referred
to as the Tiger Conservation Authority), to exercise the powers conferred on,
and to perform the functions assigned to it under this Act.
(2) The Tiger Conservation Authority shall consist of the following
members, namely:,—
(a) the Minister in charge of the Ministry of Environment and Forests—
Chairperson;
(b) the Minister of State in the Ministry of Environment and Forests—Vice
Chairperson;
(c) three members of Parliament of whom two shall be elected by the House
of the People and one by the Council of States;
(d) Eight experts or professionals having prescribed qualifications and
experience in conservation of wild life and welfare of people living in tiger
reserve out of which at least two shall be from the field of tribal evelopment;
(e) Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Forests;
(f) Director General of Forests and Special Secretary, Ministry of
Environment and Forests;
(g) Director, Wild Life Preservation, Ministry of Environment and Forests;
(h) six Chief Wild Life Wardens from the tiger reserve States in rotation for
three years;
(i) an officer not below the rank of Joint Secretary and Legislative Counsel
from the Ministry of Law and Justice;
(j) Secretary, Ministry of Tribal Affairs;
(k) Secretary, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment;
(l) Chairperson, National Commission for the Scheduled Tribes;
(m) Chairperson, National Commission for the Scheduled Castes;
(n) Secretary, Ministry of Panchayati Raj;
(o) Inspector General of Forests or an officer of the equivalent rank having
at least ten years experience in a tiger reserve or wildlife management, who
shall be the Member-Secretary, to be notified by the Central Government, in
the Official Gazette.
(3) It is hereby declared that the office of member of the Tiger Conservation
Authority shall not disqualify its holder for being chosen as, or for being, a
member of either House of Parliament.
38M..—(1) A member nominated under clause (d) of sub-section (2) of
section 38L shall hold office for such period not exceeding three years:
Provided that a member may, by writing under his hand addressed to
the Central Government, resign from his office.
(2) The Central Government shall remove a member referred to in clause
(d) of sub-section (2) of section 38L, from office if he—
(a) is, or at any time has been, adjudicated as insolvent;
(b) has been convicted of an offence which, in the opinion of the
Central Government, involves moral turpitude;
(c) is of unsound mind and stands so declared by a competent
court;
(d) refuses to act or becomes incapable of acting;
(e) is, without obtaining leave of absence from the Tiger Conservation
Authority, absent from three consecutive meetings of the said Authority; or
(f) has, in the opinion of the Central Government, so abused his
position as to render his continuation in office detrimental to the public
interest:
Provided that no member shall be removed under this sub-section
unless he has been given a reasonable opportunity of being heard in the
matter.
(3) Any vacancy in the office of a member shall be filled by fresh
appointment and such member shall continue for the remainder of the term
of the member in whose place he is appointed.
(4) The salaries and allowances and other conditions of appointment of
the members of the Tiger Conservation Authority shall be such as may be
prescribed.
(5) No act or proceeding of the Tiger Conservation Authority shall be
questioned or shall be invalid on the ground merely of the existence of any
vacancy or defect in the constitution of the Tiger Conservation Authority.
38N. —(1) The Tiger Conservation Authority may, with the previous
anction of the Central Government, appoint such other officers and
employees as it considers necessary for the efficient discharge of its
functions under this Act:
Provided that the officers and employees holding office under the
Directorate of Project Tiger and dealing with Project Tiger immediately
before the date of constitution of the Tiger Conservation Authority shall
continue to hold office in the said Authority by the same tenure and upon the
same terms and conditions of service or until the expiry of the period of six
months from that date if such employee opts not to be employee of that
Authority.
(2) The terms and conditions of service of the officers and other
employees of the Tiger Conservation Authority shall be such as may be
prescribed.
38O. (1) The Tiger Conservation Authority shall have the following powers
and perform the following functions, namely:—
(a) to approve the Tiger Conservation Plan prepared by the State
Government under sub-section (3) of section 38V of this Act;
(b) evaluate and assess various aspects of sustainable ecology and disallow
any ecologically unsustainable land use such as, mining, industry and other
projects within the tiger reserves;
(c) lay down normative standards for tourism activities and guidelines for
project tiger from time to time for tiger conservation in the buffer and core
area of tiger reserves and ensure their due compliance;
(d) provide for management focus and measures for addressing conflicts of
men and wild animals and to emphasise on co-existence in forest areas
outside the National Parks, sanctuaries or tiger reserve, in the working plan
code;
(e) provide information on protection measures including future
conservation plan, estimation of population of tiger and its natural prey
species, status of habitats, disease surveillance, mortality survey, patrolling,
reports on untoward happenings and such other management aspects as it
may deem fit including future plan conservation;
(f) approve, co-ordinate research and monitoring on tiger, co-predators, prey,
habitat, related ecological and socio-economic parameters and their
evaluation;
(g) ensure that the tiger reserves and areas linking one protected area or tiger
reserve with another protected area or tiger reserve are not diverted for
ecologically unsustainable uses, except in public interest and with the
approval of the National Board for Wild Life and on the advice of the Tiger
Conservation Authority;
(h) facilitate and support the tiger reserve management in the State for
biodiversity conservation initiatives through eco-development and people’s
participation as per approved management plans and to support similar
initiatives in adjoining areas consistent with the Central and State laws;
(i) ensure critical support including scientific, information technology and
legal support for better implementation of the tiger conservation plan;
(j) facilitate ongoing capacity building programme for skill development of
officers and staff of tiger reserves; and
(k) perform such other functions as may be necessary to carry out the
purposes of this Act with regard to conservation of tigers and their
habitat.
(2) The Tiger Conservation Authority may, in the exercise of its powers
and performance of its functions under this Chapter, issue directions in
writing to any person, officer or authority for the protection of tiger or tiger
reserves and such person, officer or authority shall be bound to comply with
the directions:
Provided that no such direction shall interfere with or affect the rights of
local people particularly the Scheduled Tribes.
38P. (1) The Tiger Conservation Authority shall meet at such time and at
such place as the Chairperson may think fit.
(2) The Chairperson or in his absence the Vice-Chairperson shall preside
over the meetings of the Tiger Conservation Authority
(3) The Tiger Conservation Authority shall regulate its own procedure.
(4) All orders and decisions of the Tiger conservation Authority shall be
authenticated by the Member-Secretary or any other officer of the said
authority duly authorised by the Member-Secretary in this behalf.
38Q. (1) The Central Government may, after due appropriation made by
Parliament by law in this behalf, make to the Tiger Conservation Authority
grants and loans of such sums of money as that Government may consider
necessary.
(2) There shall be constituted a fund to be called the Tiger Conservation
Authority Fund and there shall be credited thereto—
(i) any grants and loans made to the Tiger Conservation Authority
by the Central Government;
(ii) all fees and charges received by the Tiger Conservation Authority under
this Act; and
(iii) all sums received by the Authority from such other sources as may be
decided upon by the Central Government.
(3) The fund referred to in sub-section (2) shall be applied for meeting
salary, allowances and other remuneration of the members, officers and
other employees of the Tiger Conservation Authority and the expenses of the
Tiger Conservation Authority incurred in the discharge of its functions under
this Chapter.
38R. (1) The Tiger Conservation Authority shall maintain proper accounts
and other relevant record sand prepare an annual statement of accounts in
such form as may be prescribed by the Central Government in consultation
with the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India.
(2) The accounts of the Tiger Conservation Authority shall be audited
by the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India at such intervals as may be
specified by him and any expenditure incurred in connection with such audit
shall be payable by the Tiger Conservation Authority to the Comptroller and
Auditor-General of India.
(3) The Comptroller and Auditor-General of India and any other person
appointed by him in connection with the audit of the accounts of the Tiger
Conservation Authority shall have the same rights and privileges and
authority in connection with such audit as the Comptroller and Auditor-
General generally has in connection with the audit of the Government
accounts and, in particular, shall have the right to demand the production of
books, accounts, connected vouchers and other documents and papers and to
inspect the office of the Tiger Conservation Authority.
(4) The Accounts of the Tiger Conservation Authority as certified by the
Comptroller and Auditor-General of India or any other person appointed by
him in this behalf together with the audit report thereon, shall be forwarded
annually to the Central Government by the Tiger Conservation Authority.
38S.—The Tiger conservation Authority shall prepare in such form and at
such time, for each financial year, as may be prescribed, its annual report,
giving a full account of its activities during the previous financial year and
forward a copy therof to the Central Government.
38T.—The Central Government shall cause the annual report together with a
memorandum of action taken on the recommendations contained therin, in
so far as they relate to the Central Government, and the reasons for the non-
acceptance, if any, of any of such recommendations, and the audit report to
be laid, as soon as may be after the reports are received, before each House
of Parliament.
38U.—(1) The state Government may constitute a Steering Committee for
ensuring co-ordination, monitoring, protection and conservation of tiger, co-
predators and prey animals within the tiger range States.
(2) The Steering Committee shall consists of—
(a) the Chief Minister—Chairperson;
(b) the Minister in-charge of Wild Life—Vice-Chairperson;
(c) Such number of official members not exceeding five including
at least two Field Directors of tiger reserve or Director of National Park
and one from the State Government’s Departments dealing with tribal
affairs;
(d) three experts or professionals having qualifications and
experience in conservation of wild life of which at least one shall be from
the field of tribal development;
(e) two members from the State’s Tribal Advisory Council;
(f) one representative each from State Government’s Departments
dealing with Panchayati Raj and Social Justice and Empowerment;
(g) Chief Wild Life Warden of the State shall be the Member-
Secretary, to be notified by the State Government, in the Official Gazette.
38V. (1) The State Government shall, on the recommendation of the Tiger
Conservation Authority, notify an area as a tigerreserve.
(2) The provisions of sub-section (2) of section 18, sub-sections (2), (3)
and (4) of section 27, sections 30, 32 and clauses (b) and (c) of section 33 of
this Act shall, as far as may be, apply in relation to a tiger reserve as they
apply in relation to a sanctuary.
(3) The State Government shall prepare a Tiger Conservation Plan
including staff development and deployment plan for the proper
management of each area referred to in sub-section (1), so as to ensure—
(a) protection of tiger reserve and providing site specific habitat
inputs for a viable population of tigers co-predators and prey animals
without distorting the natural prey-predator ecological cycle in the habitat;
(b) ecologically compatible land uses in the tiger reserves and
areas linking one protected area or tiger reserve with another for
addressing the livelihood concerns of local people, so as to provide
dispersal habitats and corridor for spill over population of wild animals
from the designated core areas of tiger reserves or from tiger breeding
habitats within other protected areas;
(c) the forestry operations of regular forest divisions and those
adjoining tiger reserves are not incompatiable with the needs of tiger
conservation.
(4) Subject to the provisions contained in this Act, the State
Government shall while preparing a Tiger Conservation Plan, ensure the
agricultural, livelihood, developmental and other interests of the people
living in tiger bearing forests or a tiger reserve.
Explanation.—For the purposes of this Section, the expression “tiger
reserve” includes—
(i) core or critical tiger habitat areas of National Parks and
sanctuaries, where it has been extablished, on the basis of scientific and
objective criteria, that such areas are required to be kept as inviolate for
the purposes of tiger conservation, without affecting the rights of the
Scheduled Tribes or such other forest dwellers, and notified as such by
the State Government in consultation with an Expert Committee
constituted for the purpose;
(ii) buffer or peripheral area consisting of the area peripheral to
critical tiger habitat or core area, identified and established in accordance
with the provisions contained in Explanation (i) above, where a lesser
degree of habitat protection is required to ensure the integrity of the
critical tiger habitat with adequqte dispersal for tiger species, and which
aim at promoting co-existence between wildlife and human activity with
due recognition of the livelihood, developmental, social and cultural
rights of the local people, wherein the limits of such areas are determined
on the basis of scientific and objective criteria in consulation with the
concerned Gram Sabha and an Expert Committee constituted for the
purpose.
(5) Save as for voluntary relocation on mutually agreed terms and
conditions, provided that such terms and conditions satisfiy the requirements
laid down in this sub-section, no Scheduled Tribes or other forest dwellers
shall be resettled or have their rights adversely affected for the purpose of
creating inviolate areas for tiger conservation unless—
(i) the process of recognition and determination of rights and
acquisition of land or forest rights of the Scheduled Tribes and such
other forest dwelling persons is complete;
(ii) the concerned agencies of the State Government, in exercise of
their powers under this Act, establishes with the consent of the
Scheduled Tribes and such other forest dwellers in the area, and in
consulation with an ecological and social scientist familiar with the area,
that the activities of the Scheduled Tribes and other forest dwellers or
the impact of their presence upon wild animals is sufficient to cause
irreversible damage and shall threaten the existence of tigers and their
habitat;
(iii) the State Government, after obtaining the consent of the
Scheduled Tribes and other forest dwellers inhabiting the area, and in
consulation with an independent ecological and social scientist familiar
with the area, has come to a conclusion that other reasonable options of
co-existence, are not available;
(iv) resettlement or alternative package has been prepared providing
for livelihood for the affected individuals and communities and fulfils the
requirements given in the National Relief and Rehabilitation Policy;
(v) the informed consent of the Gram Sabha concerned, and of the
persons affected, to the resettlement programme has been obtained; and
(vi) the facilities and land allocation at the resettlement location are
provided under the said programme, otherwise their existing rights shall
not be interfered with.
38W. (1) No alteration in the boundaries of a tiger reserve shall be made
except on a recommendation of the Tiger Conservation authority and the
approval of the National Board for Wild Life.
(2) No State Government shall de-notify a tiger reserve, except in public
interest with the approval of the Tiger Conservation Authority and the
National Board for Wild Life.
38X. (1) The State Government shall establish a Tiger Conservation
Foundation for tiger reserves within the State in order to facilitate and
support their management for conservation of tiger and biodiversity and, to
take initiatives in eco-development by involvement of people in such
development process.
(2) The Tiger Conservation Foundation shall, inter alia have the
following objective:—
(a) to facilitate ecological, economic, social and cultural
development in the tiger reserves;
(b) to promote eco-tourism with the involvement of local stakeholder
communities and provide support to safeguard the natural
environment in the tiger reserves;
(c) to facilitate the creation of, and or maintenance of, such assets
as may be necessary for fulfilling the above said objectives;
(d) to solicit technical, financial, social, legal and other support
required for the activities of the Foundation for achieving the above said
objectives;
(e) to augment and mobilise financial resources including recycling of entry
and such other fees received in a tiger reserve, to foster stake-holder
development and eco-tourism;
(f) to support research, environmental education and training in
the above related fields.
CHAPTER IVC
TIGER AND OTHER ENDANGERED SPECIES CRIME CONTROL
BUREAU
38Y. The Central Government may, for the purposes of this Act, by order
published in the Official Gazette, constitute a Tiger and other Endangered
Species Crime Control Bureau to be known as the Wildlife Crime Control
Bureau consisting of—
(a) the Director of Wildlife Preservation—Director ex-officio;
(b) the Inspector General of Police—Additional Director;
(c) the Deputy Inspector-General of Police—Joint Director;
(d) the Deputy Inspector-General of Forest—Joint Director;
(e) the Additional Commissioner (Customs and Central Excise)—
Joint Director and;
(f) Such other officers as may be appointed from amongst the
officers covered under sections 3 and 4 of this Act.
38Z. (1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, the Wildlife Crime Control
Bureau shall take measures with respect to—
(i) collect and collate intelligence releated to organized wildlife
crime activities and to disseminate the same to State and other
enforcement agencies for immediate action so as to apprehend the
criminals and to establish a centralised wildlife crime data bank;
(ii) co-ordination of actions by various officers, State
Governments and other authorities in connection with the enforcement of
the provisons of this Act, either directly or through regional and border
units set up by the Bureau;
(iii) implementation of obligations under the various international
Conventions and protocols that are in force at present or which may be
ratified or acceded to by India in future;
(iv) assistance to concerned authorities in foreign countries and
concerned international organisations to facilitate co-ordination and
universal action for wildlife crime control;
(v) develop infrastructure and capacity building for scientific and
professional investigation into wildlife crimes and assist State
Governments to ensure success in prosecutions related to wildlife crimes;
(vi) advice the Government of India on issues relating to wildlife
crimes having national and international ramifications, and suggest
changes required in relevant policy and laws from time to time.
(2) The Wildlife Crime Control Bureau shall exercise—
(i) such powers as may be delegated to it under sub-section (1)
of section 5; sub-sections (1) and (8) of section 50 and section 55 of this
Act; and
(ii) Such other powers as may be prescribed.”.
3.—In section 51 of the principal Act, after subsection(1B), the following
sub-sections shall be inserted, namely:—
“(IC) Any person, who commits an offence in relation to the core
area of a tiger reserve or where the offence relate to hunting in the tiger
reserve or altering the boundaries of the tiger reserve, such offence shall
be punishable on first conviction with imprisonment for a term which
shall not be less than three years but may extend to seven years, and
also with fine which shall not be less than fifty thousand rupees but may
extend to two lakh rupees; and in the event of a second or subsequent
conviction with imprisonment for a term of not less than seven years and
also with fine which shall not be less than five lakh rupees but may
extend to fifty lakh rupees.
(ID) Whoever, abets any offence punishable under sub-section
(IC) shall, if the act abetted is committed in consequence of the abetment,
be punishable with the punishment provided for that offence.”.
4. In section 55 of the principal Act, after clause (aa), the following clauses
shall be inserted, namely:—
“(ab) Member-Secretary, Tiger Conservation Authority; or
(ac) Director of the concerned tiger reserve; or”.
5. In section 59 of the principal Act, after the word, figures and letter
“Chapter IVA”, the word, figures and letter “Chapter
IVB” shall be inserted.
6. In section 60 of the principal Act, in subsection (3), after the word, figures
and letter “Chapter IVA”, the word, figures and letter “Chapter IVB” shall
be inserted;
7. In section 63 of the principal Act, in subsection (1), after clause (g), the
following clauses shall be inserted, namely:—
“(gi) qualification and experience of experts or professionals under
clause (d) of sub-section (2) of section 38-I;
(gii) the salaries and allowances and other conditions of
appointment of the members under sub-section (4) of section 38M;
(giii) the terms and conditions of service of the officers and other
employees of the tiger Conservation Authority under sub-section (2) of
section 38N;
(giv) the form in which the annual statement of accounts of Tiger
Conservation Authoritry shall be prepared under sub-section(1) of section
38R;
(gv) the form in which and the time at which the annual report of
Tiger Conservation Authority shall be prepared under section 38S;
(gvi) other powers of the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau under
clause (ii) of sub-section (2) of section 38Z.”.
K.N CHATURVEDI
Secy to the Govt of India