Historic Judgment against the Regularization of Tamed Elephants in Sri Lanka-CA WRT 423/21
The Court of Appeal issued a historic judgment on May 31, 2024, concerning the four cases filed challenging the Gazette Extraordinary No. 2241/41 dated August 19, 2021, and its Regulations No. 01 of 2021, titled “Fauna and Flora (Protection, Well-Being, and Regularization of Registration of Tamed Elephants),” published under Section 22A of the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance (FFPO). As the instructing attorney of CA WRT 423/21, I would like to emphasize this judgment as pivotal in establishing the “Rule of Law” in our country.
This case, filed on September 21, 2021, challenging the above mentioned Gazette Extraordinary No. 2241/41 dated August 19, 2021, and its Regulations No. 01 of 2021.The gazette opened the door for the release of elephants to so-called “owners” who illegally possess elephants and calves without proper registration under the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance (FFPO).
On or about September 3, 2021, the Learned Additional Magistrate of Colombo and the Learned Magistrate of Matale ordered the Director General of National Zoological Gardens to release elephants that were in custody as productions, in Cases bearing Nos. B 23073/01/15 and B 941/14, respectively, back to their purported owners. These decisions were made upon the consideration of an application by the Officer-in-Charge of Unit 01 of the Criminal Investigation Department, with reference to Gazette Extraordinary No. 2241/41.The petitioners state that the release of elephants based on the gazette notification No.2241/41 was illegal and that there is no right to release the elephants to the purported Owners. Therefore, the petitioners challenge both the Gazette and the orders issued by Magistrate Court Colombo and Matale . The case was called as connected matter with CA/WRIT/420/2021,CA/WRIT/431/2021 and CA/WRIT/433/2021.The petitioners of CA WRT 423/21 were Centre for Environmental Justice, Withanage Don Hemantha Ranjith Sisira Kumara, Pathragoda Kankanamge Dilena, Panchali Madurangi Panapitiya, Maheshi Nalinka Munasinghe and Wadduwage Visakha Perera.