The State government will file a counter affidavit in the next couple of days before the National Green Tribunal (NGT) seeking to vacate the stay given by it on the auction of seized red sanders logs planned to be held from October 10 to 17.
In the wake of the stay given by the NGT on the petition of a resident of Chennai, the State government has decided to file the counter. A top official of the Forest Department said all the papers required for filing the counter were being readied. He expressed the hope that the stay would be lifted since only logs seized from smugglers were being put to auction.
The State government was given permission by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), Government of India (GoI), under the EXIM policy to export 8,584 metric tonnes of the seized logs in two phases to raise resources. While about 4,160 MTs of graded red sanders is scheduled to be auctioned in the first phase from October 10, the remaining quantity would be sold depending on the response in the international market in the next phase.
Meanwhile, two top Forest Department officials - Principal Chief Conservator of Forests A.V. Joseph and Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests P.K. Jha, who went to China and Japan to conduct pre-bid meetings with prospective buyers and hold road shows, will be returning on Tuesday evening.
