The Supreme Court on Wednesday underlined that one of the strongest reasons behind India’s successful tiger conservation programme has been its centralised monitoring system, and hinted that a similar institutional mechanism may be needed for the protection of the critically endangered Great Indian Bustard (GIB).

A bench of Justices P S Narasimha and A S Chandurkar made the observation while reserving its judgment in a long-pending public interest litigation concerning the drastic decline of the GIB population in Rajasthan and Gujarat.

The court asked the Centre whether any dedicated authority — akin to the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) — had been created for GIB conservation. Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati replied that no such body exists, though the governm

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