KOCHI: A division bench of the Kerala High Court on Wednesday dismissed a petition filed by Sabu M Jacob, president of the Twenty20 party, seeking a directive to the Tamil Nadu government to hand over rogue elephant Arikomban to Kerala and rehabilitate it in any of the forest divisions in Kerala.
The court observed that a ‘wild animal has no domicile status’ and made it clear that the dismissal of the petition would not stand in the way of the petitioner approaching the Madra High Court if he wants to do so. Does the petitioner have the expertise to make an opinion on these matters, the court asked. The petitioner could not provide a satisfactory answer to this, the court observed.
The court also rejected the plea seeking a directive to the Centre, Kerala and Tamil Nadu governments to take utmost care not to cause any injury or health hazard to the wild tusker in the event of it being tranquillised or captured by Tamil Nadu for translocating it to a forest division in Tamil Nadu.
The court dismissed the petition on the ground that the petitioner could not point out the rationale and justification as well as the legal grounds in support of his pleas. The bench observed that the petitioner could not point out what public interest would be subserved by compelling the Tamil Nadu forest department to bring the elephant back to Kerala. The people in Chinnakanal in the Idukki district had been living in perpetual fear when the elephant was roaming the area.
Arikomban still roaming in the forest
Theni: A special team led by Srivilliputhur Megamalai Tiger Reserve Field Director is waiting for Arikomban to step out of the Shanmuganathi dam forest to tranquilise the rogue elephant, which has been roaming in the jungle for the past three days. Over 200 personnel from the forest department are working in two shifts to closely monitor Arikomban. Three kumkis have been kept on standby in Cumbum.