The Chief Minister as Chairperson and the Chief Wild Life Warden as Member-Secretary: the Kerala board just reconstituted

Background

Kerala's reconstituted State Wildlife Board has run into objections from environmentalists in Wayanad, and the stand of one nominee on killing wild animals is being argued over. The board is not an administrative arrangement but a statutory one. Section 6 of the Wild Life (Protection) Act requires every State to constitute a State Board for Wild Life and fixes who sits on it. The Chief Minister is its Chairperson and the Minister in charge of Forests and Wild Life is Vice-Chairperson. Three members of the State Legislature are on it, with three more named to speak for non-governmental organisations that work on wild life. Ten others are named by the State Government from among eminent conservationists, ecologists and environmentalists, and at least two of those ten must come from the Scheduled Tribes. The Chief Wild Life Warden is the Member-Secretary, and the board can set up a Standing Committee to use powers given to it.