Kerala High Court likely to hear plea for review on order to move rice-eating tusker on April 12

The Kerala High Court is likely to hear on Wednesday a plea seeking review of its decision to translocate rice-eating tusker 'Arikkomban' to the Parambikulam tiger reserve in Palakkad district of the state.

The petition by CPI(M) MLA from Nenmara assembly constituency, K Babu, has contended that the High Court-appointed Commitee of Experts (CoE) suggested Parambikulam for traslocating the tusker without assessing its impact on local residents of that area.

The High Court on April 5 had ordered relocation of the tusker to the Parambikulam tiger reserve in Palakkad as suggested by the CoE appointed by it to decide whether to relocate or keep in captivity the bull elephant.

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The directions of the court came on a PIL by two animal rights groups -- People for Animals (PFA), Trivandrum Chapter and the Walking Eye Foundation for Animal Advocacy. However, local residents close to the tiger reserve have been protesting against the decision.

On Tuesday, majority of shops remained closed and otherwise-busy roads in Muthalamada panchayat could be seen almost deserted in the morning following the day-long hartal called by 'janakeeya samithi', a people's collective. The MLA has claimed in his plea, which seeks setting aside of the court's April 5 order, that local residents of the area live in constant fear of attacks from wild animals, including elephants, and moving Arikkomban there would "further add to their woes".

The petition has also claimed that the report of the committee was prepared without considering the Guidelines for Management of Human Elephant Conflict issued by the Ministry of Environment as well as the report of the Karnataka Elephant Task Force submitted before the High Court of Karnataka wherein the Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (Wildlife), Government of Kerala was also a member.