Thiruvananthapuram: Government is not planning to draft laws to override the Supreme Court ruling regarding the 1 km buffer zone around wildlife sanctuaries. Union Forest Minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey clarified the same in a reply to the questions on it asked by MPs M K Raghavan, Dean Kuriakose, Kodikkunnil Suresh and N K Premachandran.

The minister said the Centre has asked SC for a clarity on the judgment and also requested a change in the ruling.

The Union Government has also not studied whether those living in the zone are facing any issues. The minister also said that the final decision on the areas to be included in the buffer zone would be taken only in consultation with the state governments.

In July last year, the Kerala Assembly had passed a unanimous resolution to exclude populated areas from ESZ and requested the Centre to take actions including drafting fresh laws on establishing the zones around protected forests.

Recently, the SC also promised to consider granting of relaxation, through an oral assurance, while considering the review petition filed by Kerala pleading not to implement the earlier court judgment in June last year.

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF-CC) issued the final notification only in the case of Mathikettan Shola National Park in Kerala. All the other protected forests in the state are in the draft notification stage.