A bench headed by Justice Madan B. Lokur has asked Centre, Tamil Nadu government, its Chief Wildlife Warden and other forest officials to respond on a plea filed by an advocate Anupam Tripathi alleging culling of wildlife boars by neglecting guidelines issued by the state government.

The petition sought direction to conduct a scientific survey before issuing culling orders. It further sought direction that state government should stop its illegal acts and actions of killing wild boars. The advocate claimed that an all-party meeting chaired by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister on June 22 last year had decided to cull and destroy wild boars in 11 district forest divisions.

Due to the notification, ordinary citizens were killing wild boars by grossly neglecting the guidelines issued along with the notification, the petition stated.

"The notification has been issued in gross violation of law i.e. it was issued without conducting a scientific and analytical survey about the increase in the population of wild boars. This act of the state of Tamil Nadu is barbaric, brutal, cruel and implementation of this indiscriminate policy is even more forbidding and contrary to law," the petition stated.

The petition further alleged that after the state government declared the wild boars as 'vermin', there was specific instruction for their killing and disposal of their carcasses.

The petition stated that as per section 62 read with section 12 of The Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 prohibits killing of any wild animal until declared as 'vermin' as the animal will be deemed to be listed under the Schedule V of the Act, in lieu of which the same animal can be killed if it causes any harm to human or property.

Section 62 requires a declaration of 'vermin' by conducting a proper scientific survey which was omitted when the notification declaring wild boars as 'vermin' was issued, the petition read.

"The Centre, Tamil Nadu government and forest officials have been asked to carry out the fresh census in every wildlife reserve and national parks in the country to enable identifying all those wildlife reserves and national parks where the wild boar density is more populated than other reserves and national parks," it added.

"Once this is done and wildlife reserves are identified where the wild boar populations are higher and similarly where the wild boar population is less or negligible, then the government should carry out the systemic plan of relocating wild boars especially from the dense location to the locations in those reserves where their density is negligible," the petitioner further stated.

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