Karan
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Friday asked the Centre to examine a petition raising concerns over the decline in vulture population allegedly on account of the use of certain veterinary drugs, and asked it take measures to save the birds that are an important link in the food chain. A bench headed by Acting Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi issued notice to the Centre, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation, the National Biodiversity Authority, the Indian Veterinary Research Institute as well as the Bombay Natural History Society on the public interest litigation by lawyer Gaurav Kumar Bansal and sought their response. We direct respondent 1-3 (Centre) to examine the aspect raised by the petitioner in the petition and take whatever measures that are called for to save vultures which are an important link in the food chain and are essential for maintaining the environment. Response be filed in four weeks, said the bench also comprising Justice Navin Chawla. The petitioner sought the protection and conservation of vultures and claimed that there are certain veterinary drugs in the market which are harmful and toxic to these birds and yet no serious efforts have been made by the authorities till date to ban them. The major cause and perhaps the only cause of the population declines of Vultures in India is the veterinary use of the 'Non Steroidal Anti Inflammatory Drug' (NSAIDS) in live stock Vultures are exposed to toxic level of NSAIDS when they feed on carcasses of livestock which have died within a few days of treatment, and which contain residues of the said NSAIDS, the petition said. The petitioner stated that vultures are a threatened species under the Biological Diversity Act and there is a need to not only ban the toxi ...
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