Ahmedabad: The Gujarat High Court has sought the state government’s view on formation of an expert committee which would mull ways to prevent death of lions due to electrocution in Gir Wildlife Sanctuary.

A division bench of Chief Justice R Subhash Reddy and Justice V M Pancholi sought government opinion on who could provide expert suggestions to the court which would then come up with a guideline to prevent occurrence of such incidents.

The court was hearing a PIL yesterday seeking CID probe into the death of a pregnant lioness at Gir Sanctuary due to electrocution on September 1.

The court also issued notice to the state-owned Pashchim Gujarat Vij Company Limited in addition to forest department and CID.

The PIL filed by Biren Pandya sought CID probe into the death of the lioness due to suspected electrocution in Talala range as it alleged that no progress was made into the investigation conducted by the forest department in this connection.

As per data furnished in the PIL, 310 Asiatic lions died in the Gir Sanctuary in the past five years, of which 25 were victims of unnatural death, falling prey to electrocution or poaching.

It also sought direction from the court to fill up vacant posts in the forest department that hamper proper patrolling of forest areas thus encouraging poachers.

A census carried out in 2015 showed that total number of big cats in the state has gone up to 523, which is a jump from 411 lions counted in 2010. They are mainly found in Gir which is also a major tourist attraction.

PTI