News
Court orders report from Wildlife Dept. after CEJ takes issue over elephant trenches
View(s):By Ranjith Padmasiri
The Supreme Court has ordered the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) Director General to submit a comprehensive report on the current situation of the trenches that had been dug as part of the project undertaken to mitigate the human-elephant conflict.
The bench comprising Justices A.H.M.D. Nawaz, Achala Wengappuli and Arjuna Obeyesekere gave the order after taking up a fundamental rights petition filed by the Centre for Environmental Justice (CEJ) alleging that a large scale sand mining racket was being carried out under the guise of digging these trenches and that elephants have suffered horrific injuries after falling into them. The CEJ also alleged that the project was causing environmental destruction.
Explaining the current state of the trenches already dug, Additional Solicitor General Viveka Siriwardena, PC, who appeared for the respondents, pointed out that as the project has been suspended, some trenches have naturally become filled up.
Dr. Ravindranath Dabare, who appeared for the CEJ, told court that his organisation did not possess information on the state of the trenches that had already been dug. The project had been halted following an interim order issued in 2023.
The court accordingly ordered the the DWC Director General to submit a comprehensive report on the state of the trenches. The case will resume on March 27.
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