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Corbett Tiger Reserve issues legal notices to 15 websites for using its name to mislead tourists
Corbett administration has started crackdown on websites using Corbett National Park or Corbett Tiger Reserve and allegedly cheating people for bookings, safaris and other facilities.
The Corbett Tiger Reserve (CTR) administration has issued legal notices to 15 websites for using ‘Corbett Tiger Reserve’ or ‘Corbett National Park’ for allegedly misleading tourists.
The websites were allegedly indulging in violations like that of the Information Technology Act 2000 or Copy Right Act.
Many websites also attract penal provisions of Indian Penal Code regarding the offence of cheating under IPC 420, the notices said.
Sanjiv Chaturvedi, officiating director CTR, said the Corbett administration has started crackdown on websites using Corbett National Park or Corbett Tiger Reserve and allegedly cheating people for bookings, safaris and other facilities.
“The Corbett Tiger Reserve or Corbett National Park is the creation of the Central and state governments as such its name can’t be used by any private body or person for commercial use,” he said.
“As a first step 15 such websites have been identified. There are multiple violations of Copyright Act and IT Act and some cases may attract penal provisions of IPC regarding offence of cheating under IPC 420,” he said.
Corbett, the country’s first national park to be established in 1936, is one of the favourite destinations for tiger lovers.
In 2018-19, it registered a tourist influx of 2.8 lakh, including 7760 foreigners, and generated a revenue of Rs 8.5 crore, according to CTR officials.
“Those running these websites have to reply to these legal notices within one week. If they fail to do so, the CTR administration will initiate appropriate action against them as per law,” he said.
Chaturvedi said after mulling all legal options, the CTR administration has served stringent legal notices to these websites in last few days.
“The CTR being most high profile tiger reserve in the country is always in high demand for booking and safari but since the rooms inside CTR which are under forest department are limited, gullible people fall prey to the claims of such sites,” Chaturvedi said.
Chaturvedi said many of the websites even claim to offer booking of rooms inside CTR and also booking safaris, which is exclusively done through the official website of the CTR, run by National Informatics Centre (NIC). “Some websites have given Corbett’s address as their own address, which is a serious violation.”
“We took this action after many tourists complained to us that they thought these websites were being run by Corbett or can make bookings inside Cornett given the content and claims on these websites. We are searching for more such websites which will be issued legal notices through our counsel in the coming time,” he said.
