Kerala High Court Directs State To Constitute Teams For Carrying Out Census Of Captive Elephants, Identifying Their Custodians

The Kerala High Court today directed the State Government to constitute a team for conducting a census of captive Elephants in the State. The Court stated that the census shall be carried district wise, and the team shall consist of District Collector and Divisional Forest Officer (Social Forestry) from each district. The Court further directed the Chief Wildlife Warden to collect the data and submit a consolidated report before the Court about each captive Elephant in the StateThe Division Bench of Justice A.K.Jayasankaran Nambiar and Justice Gopinath P. was considering a batch of writ petitions for prohibition of cruelty against captive elephants in Kerala. The Court was considering interlocutory applications seeking return of custody of Elephants when it noticed that many captive Elephants in the State do not have a custodian, or that they do not possess an ownership certificate. The Court observed that out of 349 captive Elephants in the State, 225 Elephants have ownership certificates and 124 Elephants do not have ownership certificates. The Court observed that the ownership certificate should be with the custodian, and raised concerns about how elephants can be properly cared for in the absence of such certificates, as well as who would be held responsible. As such, the Court called for a district-wise census of captive elephants in the State. Court ordered thus: “We feel it imperative to direct the State to constitute a team comprising of the District collector and the Divisional Forest Officer (Social Forestry) of each district to conduct census of Elephants held by private individuals/institutions in each district and submit a report before the Court containing the details of each of the elephants within the district and the person who has the custody, who currently has the custody of those elephants. The reports shall also indicate whether the person holding custody over the elephant has an ownership certificate in his name or not the. The chief wildlife warden can collate the reports so obtained in respect of all the districts in the State and then furnish a consolidated report before the court.”The Court thus directed the Government pleader to submit list of District Collectors and DFO (Social Forestry) of each district to undertake the census of captive Elephants by January 09, 2025. “To begin with the exercise of undertaking a census of all the captive Elephants held within the state, we directly to make available the list of all the District Collectors and Divisional Forest Officers (Social Forestry) in the various districts in the state by the next date of posting”. In the last hearing, the High Court had initiated contempt proceedings and issued notice to an officer of the Cochin Devaswom under the Contempt of Courts Act, for allegedly breaching its guidelines regulating the parading of Elephants during Temple festivals. In a significant development, the Supreme Court today stayed the restrictions imposed by the High Court for parading Elephants, which are contrary to the Kerala Captive Elephants (Management and Maintenance) Rules, 2012.Case Number: WP(C) 31520/2024 & Connected CasesCase Title: In Re Captive Elephants v Union of India Connected Cases

Kerala High Court Directs State To Constitute Teams For Carrying Out Census Of Captive Elephants, Identifying Their Custodians

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