SC criticises ‘completely vague’ petitions against Gujarat’s Vantara animal rescue centre
The court, however, allowed the petitioners to amend their submissions, and scheduled the next hearing for August 25.
The Supreme Court on Thursday criticised two petitions alleging irregularities in animal rescue centre Vantara and the transfer of an ailing elephant from there, describing the pleas as “completely vague”, Live Law reported.
However, the bench of Justices Pankaj Mithal and PB Varela allowed the petitioners to amend their submissions, and scheduled the next hearing for August 25.
The first petition demanded that a monitoring committee be set up to look into alleged irregularities at the Reliance Foundation-run Vantara, all captive elephants be returned to their owners and all wild animals at the facility be released back to the wild.
The petitioner also questioned the transfer of an ailing elephant named Madhuri or Madhavi from the Kolhapur district to Vantara in Gujarat’s Jamnagar.
A bench of Justices Pankaj Mithal and PB Varale, however, questioned how the petitioner could make allegations against the animal rescue centre without even making it a party to the plea. “You implead them [as respondents] and then come back to us we will see,” the court said, according to PTI.
In the second petition, the counsel for the petitioners said that Vantara had already been impleaded in the matter. Mithal, however, asked whether the petitioner had approached the Central Zoo Authority before approaching the Supreme Court.
“Don't file such vague petitions,” the court said, according to Live Law. “We can't even understand the relief you are seeking.”
For over 30 years, the elephant Madhuri had been at a Jain monastery, named the Swastishri Jinsen Bhattarak Pattacharya Mahaswami Sansthan Mutt, in Kolhapur’s Nandani village.
In July, the Bombay High Court ordered Madhuri’s rehabilitation to Vantara, and the Supreme Court subsequently upheld the order. The elephant was moved to the Reliance Foundation-run centre in Gujarat on July 30, sparking protests in Kolhapur.
On August 5, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said that the state government will file a review petition in the Supreme Court seeking Madhuri’s return to Kolhapur.
