MP govt refuses RTI info on Project Cheetah
Madhya Pradesh forest department has refused to provide information under the Right to Information Act on management of cheetahs brought from Africa and their cubs born in India. In response to a request filed by wildlife activist Ajay Dubey, the department cited Section 8(1)(a) of the RTI Act, which allows a public authority to withhold information if its disclosure would prejudicially affect the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security, strategic, scientific, or economic interests of the State, relations with a foreign State, or lead to the incitement of an offence.
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Dubey had requested the state forest department to provide «management correspondence records of the Cheetah Project in Kuno and Mandsaur».
In his response, Saurav Kumar Kabra, Public Information Officer in the office of the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife), Madhya Pradesh, said: «The information (under point number 2) is related to the management branch, which has decided not to provide information under Section 8(1)(a) of the Right to Information Act, 2005.»
Dubey said this is the first time that information on Project Cheetah has been denied under RTI Act since the launch of the programme with the release of eight Namibian cheetahs into Madhya Pradesh's Kuno National Park on September 17, 2022.
Dubey had previously received information under RTI on the
