NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has restrained the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and other authorities from shifting the deer in the Deer Park in Hauz Khas to forests in different states.
In its interim direction on April 30, a two-judge bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan issued notice to the DDA’s horticulture director and other respondents seeking their response after hearing a plea opposing the relocation.
“The issue involved in these Special Leave Petitions (filed by petitioner, NGO New Delhi Nature Society (NDNS)), as regards shifting of deer in Park at Hauz Khas, New Delhi. Issue notice, returnsable on May 16, 2025,” the top court said.
The plea by NDNS claimed that around 600 deer in Hauz Khas were likely to be relocated without proper habitat assessments, vet checks, or safeguards for vulnerable groups like pregnant deer and fawns.
The petitioner contended that three batches of deer had already been relocated hastily from Deer Park to sanctuaries in Rajasthan in contravention of wildlife protection laws.
Invoking the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, NDNS claimed that using captive deer as prey amounts to cruelty, especially since Section 11 prohibits confining any animal in a manner that makes it an object of prey.
“For now, we restrain the respondents from shifting the existing deer out of Deer Park... We also make it clear that the deer shall be properly looked after by the respondents,” the bench said in its order.
The petition alleged that DDA has treated CZA’s withdrawal of recognition as a green signal to dismantle the park altogether without fulfilling legal requirements under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.