PESHAWAR: A Peshawar High Court bench on Wednesday directed the provincial government to set up the KP Wildlife and Biodiversity Board (KPWBB) and make the relevant rules by July 5.

Chief Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Syed Afsar Shah directed additional advocate general Waqar Ahmad Khan to ask the wildlife department to comply with the court’s orders.

The bench issued the order during the hearing into a contempt petition against the provincial government for not following the court’s directives issued on the matter last year.

The petition was filed by the Abaseen Hunting Association, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, through its president Ghulam Mustapha.

Also asks dept to frame relevant rules

Sanaullah Khan, lawyer for the petitioner, said the government had enacted the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Wildlife and Biodiversity (Protection, Preservation, Conservation and Management) Act, 2015, but it had not been taking steps under it.

He said his client had challenged the arbitrary increase of fee for hunting permits.

The lawyer said in some categories, the fee had been increased from Rs500 to Rs2,000, while the one for hunting dogs accompanying hunters had been enhanced manifold.

He said the changes to fee were made by the wildlife department despite having no such powers as the board was the main policymaking body in that respect.

The lawyer said the number of birds, including partridges, which could be hunted in a single day, had come down from eight to five.

He said Section 5 of the new law provided the establishment of KPWBB having the chief minister as its chairman and such number of official and non-official members as may be determined by the provincial government.

The lawyer added that a non-official member should hold office for a term of three years.

He said the board would have multiple functions, including advising of the government on policy decisions relating to protection, promotion, preservation, conservation and management of wildlife in the province; reviewing the progress of development activities in the field of wildlife promotion, protection, preservation, conservation and management in the province, and undertaking of such other functions.

The lawyer said the government had to frame rules for enforcement of the law.

He said the high court had decided the petition in May 2017 ordering the formation of the board and framing of the rules within 90 days, but the government didn’t act accordingly.

The lawyer said the chief conservator had been exercising the unfettered powers under the 1977 rules instead of framing new rules under the new law.

He added that the setting up of the board was mandatory under the law but the chief conservator had been exercising all powers and therefore, the department had been delaying the framing of rules and establishment of the wildlife board.

The lawyer said the department had been discriminating against ordinary hunters as there were the areas reserved for the chief minister and VIPs, where other hunters had not been permitted.

Additional advocate general Waqar Ahmad requested the bench to give the government more time to comply with the court’s order.

Published in Dawn, May 17th, 2018