The Wild Life (Protection) Amendment Bill, 2022 is a regressive step in our policy towards captive elephants
Published on: 22 October 2022, 01:10 pm
The proposed amendment to the Wildlife Protection Act facilitates the commercialisation and transfer of captive elephants – starkly contradicting the very purpose of the legislation.
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THE Wild Life (Protection) Amendment Bill, 2022 was passed in the Lok Sabha on August 2. This amendment was primarily enacted with the aim of giving effect to India's obligations under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora ('CITES'). Among several changes, the Amendment proposes to amend Section 43(2) of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 ('WPA').
For some context, Section 43 regulates the transfer of an animal. Sub-clause (1), inserted by the Wild Life (Protection) Amendment Act, 2002, imposes a blanket prohibition on all "transfers" of a commercial nature. Sub-clause (2) necessitates the permission of the Chief Wild Life Warden for any "transport" or "transfer" of an animal across state boundaries. "Transfer" in this sub-section entails non-commercial transactions, like gift deeds. Elephant transfers today primarily occur within this framework of non-commercial transactions, which were mostly facilitated by invalid or illegal gift deeds. This was halted in 2015 when the Supreme Court unofficially imposed a moratorium on all transfer permissions.