The Supreme Court of India, on , approved several recommendations made by an expert committee for the protection of the Great Indian Bustard (GIB) in Rajasthan and Gujarat.
The priority conservation area for Rajasthan was revised to 14,013 square kilometres, while Gujarat’s revised priority area was fixed at 740 sq km. The apex court directed that monitoring of the GIB in these revised priority areas should begin immediately and that studies be conducted on the impact of climate change on the species.
The court accepted the committee’s recommendation to provide a power corridor of up to 5 km in width, located at least 5 km south of the southernmost enclosure of the Desert National Park in Rajasthan. It also accepted the committee’s view negating the need for mitigation of existing and future power lines of 11 Kilovolts (kV) and below within a 100-metre buffer around settlements.
Restrictions recommended by the committee on future renewable energy projects within the revised priority areas of Rajasthan were approved. The Supreme Court also accepted the recommendation for the immediate undergrounding of 80 km of 33 kV power lines in Rajasthan.
All mitigation measures, including undergrounding and rerouting of power lines as suggested in the committee’s report, must commence immediately and be completed within two years from the date of the order, the court said.
The judgment further directed the competent authority to ensure the undergrounding of 250 km of critical power lines identified by the Wildlife Institute of India in Rajasthan, in a time-bound manner not exceeding two years. The bench comprised Justices P S Narasimha and A S Chandurkar.
In March 2024, the Supreme Court had directed the constitution of the expert committee to determine the scope, feasibility and extent of overhead and underground electric lines in priority areas identified by the Wildlife Institute of India in Rajasthan and Gujarat. The committee was also tasked with recommending conservation and protection measures for the GIB and other fauna specific to the region’s topography.
The judgment cited a Down To Earth article dated May 31, 2025, titled Radheshyam Bishnoi was a man rooted in the Thar; he must be remembered as India’s very own ‘Godawan Man’: Sumit Dookia, by Rajat Ghai.
