The Delhi High Court has directed the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government to ensure the translocation of a female elephant, who was taken away by the authorities from a private individual in 2017 on account of unsuitable standards for its care and upkeep, from Haryana’s Yamuna Nagar to Gujarat’s Jamnagar by April 15
The Delhi government last month had passed an order to transfer the elephant from the Elephant Rehabilitation Centre at Ban Santour in Yamuna Nagar to Radha Krishan Temple, Management Committee, Moti Khavdi in Jamnagar. The area of Jamnagar place is approximately 400 acres. The court said that it would be a far better abode for the elephant to forage through.
‘The court is informed that the efforts are underway between the Government of Haryana and the Office of Chief Wildlife Warden, GNCTD, for the transfer of Moti from Haryana to Gujarat. The petitioner is ready and willing to pay such costs, as may be requisite, for the said transfer,’ the court recorded in an order.
The court in December had questioned the Delhi government’s decision of claiming ownership of Moti and asked the state to take a fresh view on the matter. Following the court’s strict observations, the government in February decided to comply with the September 2021 order directing it to transport the animal to Jamnagar.
In the case before the court, Farukh Khan, who is the son of the original owner of the elephant, had submitted that he wishes to transport Moti from Yamuna Nagar to another place with better amenities and to reunite it with the erstwhile family of Gangaram, Dhonmati, Matti, and Chandani. However, the government on October 26 last year in a decision said that the elephant has become its property and therefore the petitioner before the court has no locus standi for filing the petition.
Justice Waziri in an order had called the contention ‘untenable’, saying that the government was directed to transport Moti to Gujarat. The court further had said that Khan’s ownership cannot be taken away only because the government had taken custody for its better upkeep.
The Delhi government in 2017 had issued notices to the owners of six elephants and asked them to surrender the animals on the ground that the area available for housing them is not up to the requisite standards. Later, some of the elephants were relocated to Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Haryana.