MADURAI
The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Thursday closed a public interest litigation petition filed by an animal lover who sought a direction to the State to ensure that temple and captive elephants were provided an uninterrupted supply of food.
The petitioner, Chennai-based Antony Clement Rubin, said he came across videos released by owners stating that they were unable to feed their captive elephants due to COVID-19 pandemic.
A Division Bench of Justices P.N. Prakash and B. Pugalendhi directed the petitioner to approach the District-level Captive Elephant Management Committee concerned.
During the course of the hearing, Chief Conservator of Forests Nihar Ranjan clarified that each district had an Elephant Management Committee under the Tamil Nadu Captive Elephants (Management and Maintenance) Rules, which provided for feeding of elephants and prescribed the diet. The role of the committee was to take appropriate action as and when complaints were received, he said.
With regard to the status of temple elephants, Special Government Pleader V.R. Shanmuganathan said the elephants were being fed and taken care of by the temple authorities concerned.