Karnataka govt not to translocate elephants to other reserves

The state government declared in the high court on Tuesday that it will not translocate elephants to other reserves in the state.
During the hearing of a suo motu public interest litigation (PIL) to take initiatives to prevent the increasing number of elephant deaths in Karnataka, a divisional bench headed by Chief Justice Vikramajit Sen and Justice BV Nagarathna observed that the environment ministry has given a final notification regarding the creation of a taskforce and it has been reported in the media.
The division bench observed that this prima facie interference in the proceedings of the court.
The bench, on January 5, had directed Central and state governments to constitute a taskforce within 10 days to initiate steps towards mitigating man-elephant conflict. The high court had registered the PIL in November 2008 following a series of media reports highlighting elephant deaths in Mysore-Chamarajanagar area.
In November 2011,the bench observed that translocation of elephants cannot be allowed without consulting experts. It also directed the Central government to seek advice from experts from Africa or any other country.
The Central government’s counsel had submitted names that could be considered to constitute the taskforce.
The bench has also directed Prabhat Tyagi, joint director (wildlife) in the ministry of environment and forest, to appear before the court on January 31.