The Supreme Court has stopped hearing the petitions filed against ‘Vantara’, a wild animal shelter of Jamnagar, Gujarat. The court had formed a SIT under the chairmanship of his former judge Justice J Chelameswar to confirm the allegations made in the petition. All the allegations were found to be baseless in the SIT report.

The bench of Justice Pankaj Mithil and Justice Prasanna B. Varale advised the petitioners and said, ‘Let some good things happen and express happiness on them. There are many things in our country, which we can be proud of. They should not get entangled in vain disputes. Along with this, the judges appreciated the SIT for rapid reports.

Allegations made in the petition
2 petitioners named CR Jayasukin and Dev Sharma claimed irregularities in building and running this shelter home of Reliance Foundation. The petitioner had also said that wild animals are being deposited to affect the government machinery and keep wild animals to keep them in ‘Vanatara’, therefore, the court should order the elephants of Vanatara to hand over the elephants and leave the rest of the animals in the forest.

Committee formation
On 25 August, the Supreme Court formed a 4 -member inquiry committee. The members of the committee were:-

1. Justice J Chelameswar, former Judge of Supreme Court (Chairman)
2. Justice Raghavendra Chauhan, Uttarakhand and Telangana High Court Chief Justice
3. Hemant Nagrale, former Police Commissioner of Mumbai
4. Anish Gupta, Additional Commissioner, Customs

The court had asked all the institutions including the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests, Central Zoo Authority, Government of Gujarat and Vantara Management to cooperate with SITs. CBI, ED, Customs and DRI were also instructed to provide necessary assistance to SIT.

Special things of SIT Report
Following laws: No case of violation of laws like Wildlife Protection Act 1972 or Customs Act, 1962 came to light. There was no irregularity in the acquisition of 40,633 animals, including 275 elephants.
animal welfare: SIT also enlisted the help of fair experts on this aspect. He found that the facilities available in Vantara are better than international level in many ways.
Place and season: SIT also denied the apprehension about being close to the industrial area of ​​Vanatara. The report states that many famous zoo in the world are in industrial cities. Due to this, there is no problem.
Conservation Program: SIT has also called the allegation of Vanatara a personal collection of animals. The report states that there is an attempt to increase the lineage of many rare animals like Asian lion, clouded leopard, cheetah. Creatures are being protected through about 3000 people and detailed facilities.
Financial allegations: SIT has called the allegation of financial irregularities on Vantara baseless. Allegations like water misuse and carbon credit sales have also been called factless.

Court order
After looking at the report, the court said that the petitioner had not presented facts to confirm his allegations. Nevertheless, the court decided to confirm those allegations by a fair committee. The court decided many questions. The committee responded in detail. Now in future, these questions will not be allowed to be raised again in any legal process. The court has said that it is making the summary of the committee’s report public. But the detailed report will be kept sealed. His copy will be given to Vantara. Look at the Vanatara report and where there is a need for improvement.

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