Supreme Court Questions Petitions Filed Against Vantara Wildlife Centre

The Supreme Court on Thursday (August 14) criticised two petitions alleging illegalities in Vantara's operations and the transfer of Kolhapur temple elephant Mahadevi, as “vague”, but allowed the petitioners to amend them and fixed both matters for hearing on August 25.A bench of Justice Pankaj Mithal and Justice Prasanna Varale heard two separate petitions concerning the operations of Vantara and the transfer of the Kolhapur temple elephant Mahadevi, also known as Madhuri, to its Radhe Krishna Temple Elephant Welfare Trust in Jamnagar.The first petition before the Supreme Court seeks the constitution of a monitoring committee for alleged illegalities at Vantara, the return of all captive elephants to their owners, the rescue and release of all wild animals and birds from Vantara into the wild, and a declaration that the High-Power Committee constituted by the Tripura High Court is unconstitutional.Hearing this matter, the Court noted that allegations had been made against parties not represented before the Court and not made respondents. Justice Mithal said, “You are making allegations against parties which are not represented here. You have not made them respondents. You implead them and then come back to us we will see.” The Court permitted the petitioner to implead Wildlife Rescue Rehabilitation and Conservation Centre Vantara as a respondent, directed that the amended cause title be filed within five days, and that copies be served on the respondents, including the newly added party. The matter will be heard next on August 25. Justice Mithal also remarked that the petition was “completely vague” and that the petitioner would have to overcome the hurdle of how he had approached the Supreme Court directly.The petition seeks an investigation into all wildlife imports and conservation-related operations undertaken by Vantara and Radha Krishna Temple Elephant Welfare Trust since 2020. It calls for verification of CITES permits, evaluation of claims regarding a gene bank, scrutiny of breeder legitimacy and source country clearances, and checks on compliance with the Biological Diversity Act, 2002, as well as India's obligations under CITES and the Convention on Biological Diversity. Pending the inquiry, the petition seeks a moratorium on further imports of exotic or endangered species by the two entities, suspension of all transfers of wild or exotic fauna to or from their facilities, and a prohibition on any physical expansion of those facilities without prior environmental and biodiversity approvals. It also seeks production of records including import permits, quarantine protocols, environmental impact assessments, species-wise inventories, and documents relating to Central Zoo Authority recognition, and directions to the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau and DGFT to re-examine and, if necessary, correct or revoke approvals granted to the entities.In the second matter, the counsel for the petitioner said Vantara had already been impleaded. Justice Mithal asked if the petitioner had approached the Central Zoo Authority before filing the writ petition. The counsel responded that several authorities were involved and that the petitioner wished to add further facts and grounds. Justice Mithal said, “When you file a petition you should be fully prepared with it… be careful that you are here under Article 32.” When the counsel referred to media articles, Justice Mithal said these could be made part of a representation to the relevant authority and added, “Don't file such vague petitions. We can't even understand the relief you are seeking.” The counsel also pointed out the absence of a regulator for the gene bank, describing it as a void.The Court permitted the petitioner to amend the writ petition within a week, tagged it with the earlier matter, and listed both petitions for hearing on August 25.The elephant Mahadevi had been in the care of Swastishri Jinsen Bhattarak Pattacharya Mahaswamy Sanstha, a Jain shrine in Nandani village, Kolhapur, for over 30 years.In July, the Bombay High Court dismissed a petition filed by the shrine challenging the recommendation of a High-Power Committee (HPC) for the transfer. The High Court bench of Justices Revati Mohite-Dere and Dr Neela Gokhale accepted the HPC's view that the elephant's welfare should take precedence over the shrine's religious activities, noting that records showed the animal was in poor physical condition.On July 28, a Supreme Court bench of Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice R Mahadevan dismissed a petition by the shrine against the High Court's decision. The bench directed that the transfer be carried out at the earliest, with measures to ensure the elephant's safety and well-being during transport.The transfer to Jamnagar led to widespread protests in Kolhapur. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis later announced that the shrine would file a review petition in the Supreme Court and that the State Government would support the move to bring the...

Supreme Court Questions Petitions Filed Against Vantara Wildlife Centre

Amisha Shrivastava

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Supreme Court Questions Petitions Filed Against Vantara Wildlife Centre

Amisha Shrivastava

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