New Delhi, Oct. 23: Obelix is unlikely to be amused but Maneka Gandhi should not be complaining.

The Centre is believed to have stalled proposals from Maharashtra and Gujarat to declare the wild boar - the mighty comic character's favourite delicacy - and the nilgai as "vermin".

If an animal is classified as "vermin", it can be killed without inviting prosecution on account of it being in conflict with humans.

Environment ministry sources said junior minister Anil Madhav Dave, who took over from Prakash Javadekar in July, was unlikely to sign the proposals to treat the wild boar and the nilgai as vermin.

"Dave is himself a conservationist and he understands that a balance is needed in nature to sustain it. He is still new but he is not signing anything in a hurry," a ministry official close to Dave said.

Maneka, women and child development minister and an animal rights crusader, had got into a spat with Javadekar earlier this year over designating some animals as vermin. Sources said she later exchanged notes with Dave on how Javadekar allegedly did not follow procedure and then offered him some suggestions.

Javadekar had issued three notifications declaring as vermin monkeys in Himachal Pradesh, wild boar and nilgai in Bihar and wild boar in Uttarakhand. But Maharashtra's proposal for a similar designation for the wild boar and the nilgai and Gujarat's for the nilgai are pending.

Not that Maharashtra, Bihar and Uttarakhand share with Obelix his passion for roasted wild boar. Rather the states are fed up with the damage the wild boars and the others allegedly cause to farmland and produce.

Animal rights activists, including those from People for Animals (PFA) helmed by Maneka, claimed that Himachal, Bihar and Uttarakhand had not conducted studies to confirm any man versus animal conflict that would justify the vermin designation.

"The proposals from the states were not based on scientific findings but on popular demand," claimed PFA's Gauri Maulekhi.

Right to information documents accessed by this newspaper revealed that the 2015 proposals submitted by the three states did not mention any field study or consultation with experts.

The absence of such information violates the December 2014 environment ministry advisory which mandates that any proposal should include four broad points: area with clear boundary description in which notification is applicable; wild animals/species to be declared vermin and the reason thereof; period for which the notification is to be issued; and the basis for such a recommendation - study, consultation or expert opinion.

Maneka has also suggested to Dave that a two-day seminar be convened on innovative methods of human-wildlife conflict management. In a letter on October 4, she said multiple stakeholders such as agriculturists, field biologists, animal behaviourists, conservationists, biologists and veterinarians could be invited to participate.

"The outcome of the conference could be issuance of revised guidelines for conflict management and creation of species-specific working groups who could be tasked with trying and perfecting new techniques for conflict mitigation or adaptation on-field," the letter said.

She also suggested that separate discussions be held on wild boars, monkeys, nilgai, spotted deer and elephants, after which a roadmap could be chalked out for the future. Dave's office has yet to confirm such a seminar.