KOCHI/THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A week after it ordered the state government to capture and translocate rogue tusker Arikomban from Chinnakkanal to Orukomban in Parambikulam, the Kerala High Court on Wednesday directed the government to find another site for the jumbo within seven days.
The court said if the government can’t finalise a site, it should shift the jumbo to Orukomban, the location originally suggested by the expert committee constituted by the HC, without delay.
Reacting to the latest directive, Forest Minister A K Saseendran said it had put the government in a fix.
“Instead of providing a solution, the High Court has put forth a new suggestion,” Saseendran said, adding that the HC had put the ball back in the state’s court.
Can’t ignore people’s protests: Forest minister
A division bench of Justice A K Jayasankaran Nambiar and Justice P Gopinath issued the directive while disposing of the petition filed by Nenmara MLA K Babu seeking to set aside its order to translocate Arikomban to Muthuvarachal/Orukomban. The earlier fiat, issued on April 5, had sparked protests in Parambikulam.
Meanwhile, the HC observed that the rise in human-elephant conflicts was an inevitable fallout of the “apparently reckless” state government action over the years. “The long-term solution may lie in re-visiting, and in appropriate cases, reversing those decisions, and restoring their habitats to the animals. But it will take time,” it said. The court said the government must take immediate action to protect human settlements falling within or in the vicinity of wildlife habitats.
For this, said the HC, the government must constitute local-level task forces. Saseendran said people approach the court for solutions. “However, it has put forth a new proposal. We do not want to criticise the court or file a complaint. However, we cannot ignore people’s protests,” Saseendran said. He said the government is of the view that the tusker should be translocated to any of its elephant centres run by the government. He said the government will take a decision after consultations with legal experts. “Where we move the tusker, locals there will protest. But the government is not taking a stand that the court’s order cannot be implemented,” he said.