Kerala HC dismisses Kitex MD's plea to bring back Arikomban to state

The Kerala High Court on Wednesday rejected an appeal by Sabu Jacob, the MD of Kitex Garments and the leader of the political party Twenty20, to relocate the rice-eating tusker Arikkomban to Kerala and provide it a new home in some of the state's deepest forests.

Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Wednesday rejected an appeal to relocate the rice-eating tusker Arikkomban to Kerala and provide it a new home in some of the state's deepest forests.

Arikomban, a rice-eating tusker that recently entered a residential area and caused panic among the locals, is being tranquilized, captured, and relocated in a forest range of the state of Tamil Nadu. A bench of Justices Alexander Thomas and C. Jayachandran declined to interfere with the government's efforts to do so.

Additionally, the bench stated that it was holding off on assessing costs against the petitioner, Sabu Jacob, the MD of Kitex Garments and the leader of the political party Twenty20, based in Ernakulam.

Jacob had also requested that the state of Tamil Nadu be given instructions to make sure that the tusker was not hurt while being tranquilized.

The Tamil Nadu government's actions were not deemed to be unlawful or to have caused any injury to the wild elephant in any way, the High Court said, dismissing the appeal.

The court also stated that the request for the involvement of HC lacked any supporting evidence and advised the petitioner to take his complaint to the Madras High Court if he felt wronged by the Tamil Nadu Chief Wildlife Warden's choice to sedate, capture, and relocate the tusker in question.

The bench also noted that the petitioner had not challenged the Tamil Nadu Chief Wildlife Warden's order. The court said in these circumstances, "there is no question of entertaining or granting the prayers sought in the petition".

The Centre too opposed that relief saying there cannot be a state of domicile for wildlife animals and that they do not belong to any particular state.

"Let us allow our people to live in peace," the bench said after it concluded dictating the order.

The wild tusker recently strayed into Tamil Nadu from Kerala and allegedly attacked a man in Theni who later died.