KANHAIYA KUMAR Vs. CENTRAL ZOO AUTHORITY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner, said to be a public spirited person and an advocate by profession, has filed this petition in the nature of Public Interest Litigation ('PIL') with reference to his interest in the welfare of environment and compassion towards protection and improvement of wild-life.

(2.) In this petition, the petitioner is essentially seeking orders against the respondent No. 2 in the following terms:

(3.) The respondent No. 1 herein is the Central Zoo Authority and the respondent No. 2, Greens Zoological Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre is said to be a private entity, which has been given the permission by the respondent No. 1 to import several endangered, vulnerable and threatened animals from abroad and also domestically. The petitioner is assailing the permission so granted to the respondent No. 2 to establish a Zoo in District Jamnagar, in the State of Gujarat. The contentions of the petitioner in challenge to the permission granted to the respondent No. 2 and its activities are essentially based on the information said to be available in public domain on the internet and in the form of news-reports. The petitioner would submit that the respondent No. 2 is a private Zoo and is not permitted to receive animals, whether from abroad or in India. The petitioner would further submit that the master layout plan for the Zoo of the respondent No. 2 was approved in the month of February, 2019 but it is not clear as to how the respondent No. 2 is qualified to take the animals from abroad or from a public Zoo. According to the petitioner, the respondent No. 2 is planning to have largest number of species and animals in Zoo in order to attract visitors and to make business out of the same, which remains entirely impermissible; that the respondent No. 2, in the garb of making Rescue Centre for animals, is seeking to carry out commercial activity; and that a Zoo and a Rescue Centre cannot be operated under one roof.