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High Court order prevents release of elephants to supposed owners
The Colombo Chief Magistrate’s order to release15 elephants to their supposed owners has been further suspended till June 22 by Colombo’s High Court Judge Manilal Waidyatillake. When the case was taken up on Thursday, the judge also directed the parties to inform court whether fresh magisterial inquiries will be carried out on a case-by-case basis to ascertain the ownership of the 15 elephants.
Lawyers appearing for the supposed owners wanted time to discuss the matter. The court also allowed Lawyers for Good Governance to intervene in the case in the public interest. Senior State Counsel Dileepa Pieris appearing for the Attorney General did not object.
However, she complained to court that a TV channel was commenting on the case, while it was pending before court, and requested the court to order the TV channel not to do so. The case came before the High Court after the Attorney General filed a revision application, seeking the suspension of the Chief Magistrate’s order.
The Chief Magistrate, on a request by the supposed owners, had ordered the Wildlife Department to temporarily release the animals to their supposed owners to enable them to parade the animals in peraheras. The elephants are now in the custody of the Wildlife Department.
The High Court case will be called on June 22. Meanwhile, in a related case, Colombo’s Additional Magistrate Nishantha Pieris terminated the magisterial inquiry against Ven. Uduwe Dhammaloka Thera for allegedly possessing an elephant without a valid licence. This was after the CID informed court that the AG had indicted the Thera in the High Court in this regard and notice had been issued on him to appear in court on June 20.