[Shifting of wild elephants from Gadchiroli forest to zoo] Bombay High Court takes suo motu cognizance

The Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court on Wednesday took suo motu cognizance of the Maharashtra government's move to shift wild animals from a forest in Gadchiroli district to a zoo in Gujarat..A Bench of Justices SB Shukre and Valmiki Sa Menezes opined that the issue was of seminal importance and raised a more fundamental question regarding the rights of wild animals within a society dominated by human beings.It suggested that a mechanism was required to ensure that there is balance between the rights of man and those of animals.“While it is true that the animals and the wild animals not being bestowed with similar mental faculties including faculty of speech as human being, it is difficult for human society to seek consent of the affected animals before they are forcibly removed from one area to another area but, that should not deter a human being from devising some method where rights of the wild animals against their forcible removal and in respect of other matters are equally respected as that of man and a balance is struck between the rights of man and rights of animals including wild animals. If this could be done, much of the problems arising from man-animal conflict will be redressed,” the Bench highlighted in its order..The judges also quoted couplets from an ‘abhanga’ (devotional Marathi poetry) by Sant Tukaram which reflected the recognition of rights of every living creature and claimed that non-human living beings also deserved the same respect as humans..The Court was shown an article of a news daily which stated that wild elephants could be taken out of their chosen natural habitat only after a proper resolution was passed by the Kamlapur village panchayat.The Bench emphasized that the presence of wild elephants added to the biodiversity of the Gadchiroli forest. Thus, it was the duty of the State under the Biological Diversity Act to preserve the population of wild elephants and protect the biodiversity, the Court said..Taking suo motu notice, the Court asked the Registry to register a public interest litigation on the basis of the news items.The respondents arraigned by the Court were:Union of India, through the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change;Chief Secretary of Maharashtra;Principal Secretaries of Revenue and Forest Department, Tribal Development Department and Social Welfare Department;Chairperson of Maharashtra State Biodiversity Board andChairman of the Central Zoo Authority of India..Senior Advocate JT Gilda, assisted by Advocate PS Tembhare, brought the issue to the notice of the Court. Additional Solicitor General NS Deshpande appeared for the Central government, while Advocate KS Joshi represented the State government and its departments..[Read order]