Delhi HC orders status quo on translocation of deer from Deer Park

The Delhi high court on Wednesday directed the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) to stay the translocation of deer from Deer Park at Hauz Khas, while suggesting that DDA maintain at least 50 deer in the park.

The translocation of the approximately 600 deer from Deer Park was approved by the technical committee of the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) to its natural habitat in Rajasthan and Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary on June 8 in the ratio of 70:30, subject to the authorities complying with statutory provisions and International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) guidelines.

The guidelines prohibit the translocation of pregnant females, newly bred, or deer with antlers.

The decision to translocate the deer was taken after DDA’s licence to run the park as a mini zoo was cancelled by CZA in view of the authority failing to check inbreeding of the animals and follow its guidelines.

The court was considering a plea filed by the New Delhi Nature Society, seeking to direct DDA to ensure strict compliance to guidelines laid down by CZA and IUCN while translocating the deer.

The court asked the body to speak at the highest level regarding its suggestions, saying the remaining deer can be sent to areas under DDA control or to ridges since they won’t be able to survive in Rajasthan due to presence of leopards in the jungles.

Posting the plea for January 15, 2024, a bench of acting chief justice Manmohan said, “Till further orders, status quo shall be maintained qua translocation of deers (from deer park).”

The bench, also comprising justice Mini Pushkarna, further said, “Rajasthan jungle has too many leopards. They will not survive there. If the DDA cannot maintain such a small place, then who else can maintain it? It is such a larger organization. If you can maintain a gold park, you can always maintain this. Do it… If you maintain it at 50 capacity, we have no problem.”

During the hearing, New Delhi Nature Society, represented by advocate Arvind Sah, argued that the authorities had earlier said the issue of translocation of the deer had been referred to the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, adding that 80 deer so far have been translocated to other places in two batches of 40 each.

The society in its plea had argued that the deer were being loaded into trucks without exercising discretion regarding health, age and physical conditions of the animals, without any prior health check-up. “Deers were being sent to Asola as prey base for predators. Since the deer have lived all their lives in captivity, there is no chance of their survival in the wild as years of dormancy has led to loss of their natural instinct, speed, skill and stamina to dodge their predators,” read the plea.