NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court-appointed SIT probing the affairs of Vantara has given a clean chit to the zoological rescue and rehabilitation centre run by the Reliance Foundation at Jamnagar, Gujarat.
The report was submitted on Friday by the Special Investigation Team (SIT), headed by the former Supreme Court judge Justice Jasti Chelameswar, to the SC, which perused the submissions on Monday.
The SIT, in its report, said that the acquisitions were in accordance with regulatory laws and recorded the satisfaction of the authorities on all statutory compliances.
The SC's two-judge bench of Justices Pankaj Mithal and P B Varale, after taking into record the submissions of the SIT, noted that the authorities have expressed satisfaction on the issue of compliance and regulatory measures in Vantara.
"We have gone through the summary of the report. It notes erudite regulatory compliance. It notes that stakeholders also presented views. Authorities have expressed satisfaction with the regulatory compliance,” said the top court, and added that it would “go by the report” of the SIT and indicated that no further individual grievances would be entertained.
During the arguments, senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for Anant Ambani's Vantara, pleaded to the SC that a “quietus” be given to the controversy once and for all.
“There is some degree of commercial confidentiality that has to be maintained. This facility is one of its kind in the world. We do not want that tomorrow there are reports appearing in The New York Times. We must have a decent burial on this issue,” Salve added and opposed the SIT report to be made public.
Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta, senior law officer appearing for the Gujarat government, also echoed similar voices with Salve, and added that the SIT report should not be made public. He, however, clarified that the report may be shared with the Vantara authorities to ensure them acting on various recommendations given by the Team.
The Supreme Court had on August 25 ordered the constitution of an SIT, after hearing PILs (Public Interest Litigation) filed by a lawyer, CR Jaya Sukin and Dev Sharma.
It also had directed that the three other members of the SIT would be: Justice Raghavendra Chauhan (Former Chief Justice of Uttarakhand and Telangana High Court), Hemant Nagrale, IPS (Former Commissioner of Police, Mumbai), and Anish Gupta, IRS (Addl Commissioner Customs).
"The SIT has to inquire into, among other things, the compliance with the provisions of the Wildlife Protection Act and other relevant statutes in the acquisition of animals from India and abroad, particularly elephants," the order had said.
The bench had earlier, in its hearing on August 25, observed that the petition only made allegations without any supporting material, clarifying that ordinarily, such a petition should not be entertained.
It, however, said that at the same time, "However, in the wake of the allegations that the statutory authorities or the Courts are either unwilling or incapable of discharging their mandate, more particularly in the absence of verification of correctness of the factual situation, we consider it appropriate in the ends of justice to call for an independent factual appraisal which may establish the violation, as alleged, if any."