On Thursday, the Supreme Court issued a contempt of court notice to the Chief Secretary of Andhra Pradesh in connection with the alleged construction of illegal fish tanks within the Kolleru Lake wetlands and Bird Sanctuary.

A three-judge Bench comprising Justices BR Gavai, Prashant Kumar Mishra, and KV Viswanathan has issued a contempt notice to Andhra Pradesh Chief Secretary Neerabh Kumar Prasad. The notice was prompted by allegations that the State has wilfully failed to comply with a 2006 Supreme Court order concerning the restoration of the Kolleru Lake wildlife sanctuary.

On April 10, 2006, in the case of TN Godavarman Thirumulpad v. Union of India, the Court had directed the State's officers to implement recommendations made by the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) in its report dated March 20, 2006. These recommendations included demolishing all fish tanks within the sanctuary and tanks exceeding 100 acres by May 31, 2006, to restore the wildlife habitat.

The Court has now sought a response from the Chief Secretary, asking why contempt proceedings should not be initiated for allegedly violating these directions.

The contempt plea before the Supreme Court argues that the use and transportation of inputs for pisciculture in the Kolleru Lake area have continued unchecked, allowing illegal fish tanks to flourish. According to the petitioner, information obtained under the Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI Act) from the Andhra Pradesh Forest Department’s Wildlife Management Division reveals that 6,908.48 hectares of the Kolleru wildlife sanctuary are currently under illegal aquaculture.

The petitioner has requested the Court to direct the Chief Secretary to implement its 2006 directives fully and to facilitate the removal of illegal encroachments within Kolleru Lake. Advocate Akshay Mann represented the petitioner in this matter.