CA orders authorities to prosecute individuals who illegally kept elephants

Colombo, May 31 (Daily Mirror) -  The Court of Appeal today issued a Writ of Mandamus directing the Director General of Wildlife Conservation, CID, IGP and the Attorney General to take necessary steps to prosecute all individuals who illegally kept the elephants referred to the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court and Matale Magistrate’s Court, who have not been lawfully registered in terms of the law.

The Court of Appeal Justices Sobhitha Rajakaruna and Justice Dhammika Ganepola delivered this judgement pursuant to four writ petitions filed by the Centre for Eco-Cultural Studies, Justice for Animals Sri Lanka and Centre for Environmental Justice challenging the registration of elephants in terms of the new regulations issued by the government.

The Court further issued a Writ of Certiorari quashing the decision of the Chief Magistrate’s Court of Colombo and Magistrate’s Court in Matale, releasing elephants back to the perpetrators.

Former State Minister of Wildlife Protection Wimalaweera Dissanayake in 2021 had issued an extraordinary gazette notification to regularise the registration of tamed elephants. According to this new regulation, the Director-General of Wildlife is vested with the power to register and issue a license in respect of a tamed elephant.

The Court further issued a Writ of Certiorari quashing all decisions registering or granting approval for the issuances of licenses taken based on the Regulations in 5(1), and 5(2), 6(2) and 7(1) of the Fauna and Flora (Protection, Well-being and Regularization of Registration of Tamed Elephants) Regulations No. 01 of 2021 published in Gazette Extraordinary No. 2241/41 on August 19 2021.

In this case, the petitioners said the decision to release elephants back to the perpetrators is contrary to the interests of conservation and protection of elephants.

The Petitioners further state that ensuring the due care and well-being of an elephant can only be done effectively by persons who are intensely knowledgeable about elephants and their behaviour. The environmental organizations alleged that 15 elephants held under the custody of the Department of National Zoological Gardens as productions were released back to those accused of illegally capturing them from the wild and keeping them in their possession under fraudulent documents

Sanjeeva Jayawardena PC with Prashanithi Mahindraratne, Dilumi De Alwis, and Lakmini Warusevitane appeared for Centre for Eco-Cultural Studies. Senior Counsel Ravindranath Dabare appeared for the Centre of Environmental Justice. Uditha Egalahewa PC and Dr. Romesh De Silva PC appeared for other petitioners. Deputy Solicitor General Kanishka de Silva Balapatabendi appeared for the Attorney General.