Delhi govt to translocate elephant to Gujarat, says L-G’s approval pending

The court in December had questioned the Delhi government’s decision of claiming ownership of Moti, the elephant, and had asked the state to take a fresh view in the matter. The court in September 2021 had ordered the government to transport the animal to a facility managed by Radha Krishan Temple Management Committee in Gujarat’s Jamnagar, after hearing a petition filed by Farukh Khan, the son of the elephant’s original owner.

Khan had submitted that he wished to transport Moti, who is housed at a centre in Yamuna Nagar in Haryana, to another place with better amenities and to reunite it with the erstwhile family of Gangaram, Dhonmati, Matti and Chandani.

However, the government on October 26 last year in a decision said the elephant has become its property and therefore the petitioner before the court has no locus-standi for filing the petition.

Justice Waziri had called the contention “untenable”, saying that the government was directed to transport Moti to Gujarat. The court further had said Khan’s ownership cannot be taken away merely because the government had taken custody for its better upkeep.

The Delhi government in 2017 had issued notices to owners of six elephants and asked them to surrender the animals on the ground that the area available for housing them is not up to the requisite standards. Later, some of the elephants were relocated to Gujarat, Rajasthan and Haryana. The court in 2017 had said the Chief Wildlife Warden would have to give sufficient opportunity of hearing to the owners of these elephants before making decisions on their ownership.