Madhya Pradesh High Court Directs Authorities To Report On Rehabilitation Status Of Elephants At Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve

In a plea concerning welfare of elephants in Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, the Jabalpur bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court on Thursday (January 23) directed the respondent authorities to file a status report pursuant to its earlier order asking them to finalize their decision on rehabilitation of the animal as per the provisions of the Wild Life Protection Act.

The division bench of Chief Justice Suresh Kumar Kait and Justice Vivek Jain in its January 23 order observed, “They are also directed to file status report pursuant to the order dated 14.10.2024. The expert committee shall also examine the captivity of the elephants in Kanha for the possibility of releasing the elephants.” In October the court had been told that the Competent Authority under Section 11(1)(a) of the Wild Life Protection Act shall take a final decision on the rehabilitation of the elephant maintained in Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, within a short time.

The respondents in the matter include the Union of India through Secretary Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change, State of Madhya Pradesh through Additional Chief Secretary Department of Forest, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (Wildlife), Additional Chief Conservator of Forest (Wildlife) and Animal Welfare Board of India.

In its October 14, 2024 order the high court had said, "...respondents are directed to take final decision in consonance with Section 11 (1)(a) of the Wild Life Protection Act, 1972 specially second proviso thereof and file status report before the next date of hearing, specifically stating that how many live elephants are in their captivity and under what orders?".

For context, Section 11 of the Wildlife Protection Act pertains to the hunting of wild animals to be permitted in certain cases. Section 11(1)(a) states that notwithstanding anything contained in any other law in force and subject to the provisions of the chapter on Protected Areas, the Chief Wild Life Warden may, if he is satisfied that any wild animal specified in Schedule I has become "dangerous to human life or is so disabled or diseased" which is beyond recovery, in a written order while stating his reasons, permit any person to hunt such animal or cause such animal to be hunted.

The second proviso however states that "provided no such captured animal shall be kept in captivity unless the Chief Wild Life Warden is satisfied that such animal cannot be rehabilitated in the wild and the reasons for the same are recorded in writing".

During the hearing on Thursday, the court had orally asked the counsel for State regarding the instructions received in the matter. 

To this the State's counsel  submitted, “We are taking the expert advice from Professor Dr. T.S. Rajeev who appeared through video conferencing on 12^th September 2024 and we are in touch with him. I humbly pray for a short time of two weeks to bring all the subsequent development because initially he was supposed to come in January but due to some complication he could not come.”

The counsel for petitioner submitted, “My lord, may I just point out one aspect. Please refer to order dated 14.10.2024. The last paragraph, there was a direction for the respondents to place on record certain aspects with regard to the capture of elephants…that is also required to be placed on record. Plus one elephant which is in captivity of a recent origin in Kanha. Since they are calling the experts, let the expert…”

The court at this stage if the matter concerned Bandhavgarh or Kanha. 

The counsel replied, “This is regarding…the elephants initially came to Bandhavgarh and now some of them have…but it was captured from Bandhavgarh and brought to Kanha. There are no wild elephants in Kanha. The wild elephants are only in Bandhavgarh.”

The court asked whether a status report has been filed in pursuance to the earlier order. To this, the counsel responded in the negative.

The matter is now listed after two weeks. 

Case Title: Nitin Singhvi Vs Union Of India And Others, WP No. 22959 of 2018

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