CA orders authorities to prosecute individuals who illegally kept elephants

• Judgement follows four writ petitions filed by environmental organizations

By Lakmal Sooriyagoda   

The Court of Appeal yesterday 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.