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animal rights

the allegations of Maneka Gandhi which Ministry requires Board’s comments on chairperson is Maneka Gandhi.Both
was submitted and ministry was satisfied basis of such documents having baseless have been writing identical letters to
with their submissions. allegations it may be sent to Chairman Environment Minister levelling false
On 23rd July, 2018, Maneka Gandhi or Secretary of the Board in confiden- allegations against Board and its chair-
wrote to Harsh Vardhan that she had tial so that image of Board doesn,t get man. The resolution said that it is most
repeatedly requested not to allow this tarnished. unfortunate that completely false and
person to continue in office ass his ac- The Board resolution says, “We the baseless allegations have been made by
tions are causing nothing but damage to Honorary members of the Board, con- the Minister Smt,Maneka Gandhi against
the Board and to the Ministry. Maneka demn the act of Maneka Gandhi and the board members without having any
Gandhi has further written that the lat- Gauri Maulekhi (an animals right activ- kind of factual backing and it is unaccep-
est communication issued by him, in the ist enjoying confidence of Maneka) and table that such unsubstantiated allega-
garb of addressing the illegal slaughter request the Ministry of Environment, tions have been made by holder of such
of animals during upcoming Eid and Forest and Climate Change to take ap- a high constitutional office in the most
Dussehra, undermines the law and the propriate necessary action at the earliest causal manner.It further alleges that
directions of Supreme Court and at- in view of the contiguous interference by Gauri Maulekhi is misrepresenting at
tempts to grab undue authority in the Maneka Gandhi and Gauri Maulekhi in various forms to be representative of the
most fraudulent manner. the affairs of the Board and also making board. Gauri Maulekhi neither respond-
On August 23, 2018, Gupta wrote to ed to SMS messages of Tehelka nor picked
Harsh Varddhan denying the allegations up the phone made to know her version.
of Maneka Gandhi. Accusing Maneka AWBI ex-chairman SP Both Gupta and Maneka Gandhi
Gandhi of using defamatory, unsubstan- Gupta’s decision to had sharp difference on several issues
tiated and filthy language against him ranging from ban on Circuses, snake
and Board members, Gupta wrote that quit from the position, charmers and cattle marketing and use
it is astonishing to have so much inter- of elephants by tourism departments of
ference of Maneka Gandhi in the affairs as per the reports, various states for tourists. While Maneka
of the Board for the ulterior motive by was personal and had Gandhi is bent upon pushing her agenda
“making false, baseless, unwarranted, aggressively, Gupta feels that views of all
unsubstantiated, scandalous and defam- nothing to do with stakeholders should be taken before tak-
atory remarks against the Board mem- Maneka Gandhi’s ing any decision keeping in view of our
bers and against me as I have refused culture and traditions besides livelihood
to succumb to the unlawful demands of interference in the of thousands of persons.
Mrs Gandhi and her associates.” board’s functioning It is interesting to mention here that
In an unprecedented development such was the fear of board that billion-
Board convened its special meeting on aire industrialist Mukesh Ambani has
July 30, 2018, to discuss the situation false, baseless, unwarranted, unsubstan- sought its permission for use of animals
arouse out of allegations of Maneka Gan- tiated and defamatory remarks against and birds in marriage of his daughter.
dhi. It passed a resolution expressing se- the board members and specially its Anand Mohan Sharan, senior IAS officer
rious concern over an alleged fake letter chairman. of Haryana, recalls an old incident when
written by someone which was made The allegations levelled by Maneka he was DC, Faridbad.
part of allegations against the Board Gandhi and Gauri Maulekhi in letters Sharan told that he got call from
by Maneka Gandhi in her complaint to written to Enthronement minister on Maneka Gandhi that a train loaded with
Harsh Vardhan. July 20, 2018, and July 17, 2018, are not only cows was just to pass from Faridabad sta-
Maneka Gandhi has alleged that the baseless but also lessen the status of the tion which did not have proper proper
Board has issued letter granting per- Board in the eyes of the public at large arrangements of water and fodder for
mission for transportation of animals apart from maligning the reputation of the animals and warned of any lapse in
.Board passed a resolution copy of which board which is one of the biggest statuto- hard tone. Maneka was Minister in the
was sent to Union Environment Minis- ry bodies in the entire world constituted cabinet of Atal Bihari Vajpayee at that
ter making a request for taking up with under the Act of Parliament i.e the pre- time. And the district administration fol-
Maneka Gandhi for not interfering in the vention of cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 lowed the guide lines set by Smt Menaka
effective and smooth functioning of the looking after the prevention of cruelty to Gandhi. This way Maneka was in a posi-
Board.It wrote that the Board is in the animals and their welfare.” tion to call DC and asked him to look into
process of lodging of an FIR against un- It further said that Gauri Maulekhi the matter and take cognizance of the
known person for the offence of forgery is not only the adviser to Maneka Gan- situation as well as feeding the animals!
and to initiate other appropriate remedy. dhi but also one of the trustees in the
It was requested that if in future the ‘Peoples for Animals.’ an NGO whose letters@tehelka.com

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