BHOPAL: A Bhopal-based wildlife activist has been denied information about the management of African cheetahs, by the Madhya Pradesh state forest department under the Right to Information Act.The wildlife activist, Ajay Dubey, who sought the information on July 2 about the records pertaining to correspondence related to the management of the African cheetahs at Kuno National Park and Mandsaur (latter is likely to be the second home of cheetahs in India by the year end), was denied information under the RTI by the state forest department.In the reply to Dubey’s RTI application, Sourav Kumar Kabra, the public information officer (PIO) at the office of state’s principal chief conservator of forest (PCCF-Wildlife) stated on July 22 that “the desired information (under point number 2) is related to the management branch, which has agreed not to provide information under Section 8(1)(a) of the Right to Information Act, 2005.”The Section 8(1)(a) of the RTI Act 2005, says that “notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen information, disclosure of which would prejudicially affect the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security, strategic or economic interests of the state.”Dubey, while sharing the details of the matter, said “I’ve been getting information under the RTI about the Cheetah project, right since the SC ordered the introduction of African Cheetahs in 2019-20. This is the first time I’ve been denied information by the department about the Cheetah Project.”
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