Former Supreme Court judge Justice Krishna Murari has joined the newly constituted Governing Council of Vantara, the animal welfare and conservation initiative launched by Reliance Industries and Reliance Foundation.

Justice Murari, who served on the Supreme Court from 2019 until his retirement in 2023, was earlier Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court and a judge of the Allahabad High Court. At Vantara, he will be part of the five-member council tasked with overseeing the organisation's conservation, rescue and compliance work, as well as its governance and future direction.

The council will also have the final say on future applications to import wild animals. Under Vantara's recently announced governance reforms, no application to import an animal will be made before June 5, 2027. Thereafter, any such application will require prior written approval from the Governing Council following an internal due diligence process.

In September last year, the Supreme Court accepted the findings of a Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) that examined allegations concerning Vantara's animal acquisitions, imports, welfare practices and other aspects of its operations. The SIT found no violation of the applicable wildlife, customs, foreign trade, financial and other laws, and the Supreme Court accepted its conclusions.

Justice Murari will serve alongside John E. Scanlon AO, former Secretary-General of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), who is the council's independent chair. Other members include Craig Hoover of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, former Karnataka Chief Wildlife Warden Subhash K. Malkhede, conservation expert Greta F. Iori and wildlife veterinarian and elephant specialist Dr Kushal Konwar Sarma as an ex-officio member.