For those who were under fire for ill-treating animals, it is too early to celebrate the removal of Maneka Gandhi from the Cabinet. She continues as Committee for Prevention and Supervision of Experiments on Animals (CPSEA) chairperson, the body empowered to prevent ill-treatment of animals used for experiments. She will lead the panel for two-and-a-half-years.But CPSEA nominees, who form the committee’s eyes and ears, are keeping their fingers crossed on her continuation as chairperson. They are allotted animal houses which they inspect from time to time.According to Camilia Satija, the nominee responsible for inspecting animal houses of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), there is a mafia against the CPSEA. ‘‘So one does not know what is going to happen next,’’ she said.Sonia, another nominee, said: ‘‘The minister’s removal has not affected our activities. We are now preparing for an international workshop on animal experiments to be held here in October.’’CPSEA’s technical expert Chinni Krishna is, however, not confident if they will be able to continue with their work. ‘‘The Government is free to remove the chairperson if it wants,’’ he said from Chennai. ‘‘The committee has a four-year tenure. Accordingly, Gandhi’s term ends in 2004.’’The CPSEA is a statutory body formed in 1964 by an Act of Parliament and has 28 members on its national committee. It came into direct conflict with the Centre in May after it suspended animal experiments at National Institute of Virology over pathetic condition of animals.It comes under the Animal Welfare Department which in turn has been appended to various ministries from time to time. While earlier it was with the ministry of Social Justice, it was later moved to the ministry of Programme Implementation and Statistics alongwith Maneka Gandhi.The CPCSEA and the Animal Welfare Board now come under the new Minister for Programme Implementation and Statistics Vijay Goel.Goel’s office expressed ignorance about whether animal welfare was appended to the ministry.
