LUCKNOW, Oct. 24 -- Petitioners in the Kukrail Night Safari and Lucknow Zoo shifting case will approach the National Green Tribunal (NGT) through senior Supreme Court lawyer Salman Khurshid, who is helping them pro bono, seeking directives to the Uttar Pradesh government to file a reply in the case.

Taking the plea that the same case is also going on in the Supreme Court, the state government has avoided filing a reply with the NGT in the case. It will come up for next hearing before the principal bench of the NGT, New Delhi, on October 28.

During the hearing of the case in the NGT on April 21 this year, the state government had apprised the tribunal about its decision to move the Supreme Court, seeking clearance for the project. Luckno...