5 months ago
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The Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam, founded by Adi Sankara, has approached the Madras High Court for taking backmost 3 of its pistillate elephants Sandhya, 50, Indu, 30, and Jayanti, 14, from the Tamil Nadu Forest Department’s elephant rescue and rehabilitation centre astatine M.R. Palayam successful Tiruchi.
Justice V. Lakshminarayanan connected Monday directed the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests-cum-Chief Wildlife Warden (PCCF-cum-CWC) to depute a squad of officials for inspecting a 2.94-acre installation earmarked by the Mutt astatine Konerikuppam successful Kancheepuram territory for lodging the pachyderms.
The justice made it wide that the aforesaid team, which had inspected the installation connected December 9, whitethorn beryllium deputed for the inspection again, truthful that it would beryllium successful a amended presumption to find retired if the deficiencies recovered during the archetypal inspection had been rectified by the Mutt oregon not.
He directed Special Government Pleader (Forests) T. Seenivasan to explicate by January 6 arsenic to whether the M.R. Palayam elephant rescue and rehabilitation centre had factual sheds to location the elephants arsenic required nether Rule 5(2) of the Tamil Nadu Captive Elephants (Management and Maintenance) Rules, 2011.
The absorption was issued aft advocator V.R. Shanmuganathan, representing the petitioner Mutt, contended that nary of the elephant rescue centres tally by the wood section had factual sheds for the elephants but the officials were insisting upon backstage owners unsocial to found specified sheds.
The counsel told the tribunal that the Mutt had established 2 well-ventilated metallic extortion sheds for lodging each 3 elephants, too creating a 20 X 30 X 6 ft pond for them to instrumentality bath. Three rooms had been made disposable astatine the tract for preparing nutrient and medicines for the gentle giants.
He informed the justice that the Mutt owns astir 14.08 acres of grasslands successful the adjacent areas from wherever the regular request of 200 kg of fodder for each of the 3 elephants could beryllium supplied easily. He said the Mutt had identified 3 mahouts and kavadies who were acceptable to articulation duty.
Mr. Shanmugasundaram said the Mutt had handed implicit the 3 animals for harmless custody astatine a backstage instauration astatine Marakkanam successful Villupuram territory successful 2016. However, aft activistic S. Muralidharan filed a nationalist involvement litigation petition successful 2019, they were translocated to the M.R. Palayam camp.
Now, that the mutt had created a 2.94-acre installation to instrumentality attraction of the 3 elephants which were an indispensable portion of the temple rituals, it insisted connected renewing its licences/ownership certificates and translocating the pachyderms from the M.R. Palayam campy to the Konerikuppam facility.
