Ivory case: HC asks Mohanlal, Forest Secretary to file affidavits

Grant of ownership certificate for ivory artefacts

A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Tuesday asked actor Mohanlal and Principal Secretary, Forests and Wildlife, to file an affidavit in response to a public interest litigation seeking to quash the ownership certificate given by the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Wildlife for the ivory artefacts in the possession of the actor.

The Bench comprising Chief Justice S. Manikumar and Justice Shaji P. Chaly gave the directive on a petition filed by James Mathew, former forest officer, seeking a probe by a special investigation team headed by an Additional Director General of Police into the issue of the grant of ownership certificate to the actor. The court granted them two weeks to file the affidavits.

12 ivory artefacts

The petitioner pointed out that two pairs of elephant tusks and 12 ivory artefacts were seized by the Income Tax Department from the residence of Mohanlal in Kochi on July 22, 2011. Later, the Forest Department registered a case against the actor and three others. The petitioner submitted that at the time of the seizure, the actor did not have a certificate of possession as mandated under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. The certificate was granted later by the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests in collusion with the actor. The petitioner contended that the grant of certificate of possession was illegal.

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