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Vishalakshi Amma vs. State of Kerala & Ors.

Civil Appeal · 2023 INSC 255Decided 17 Mar 2023
Civil Appeal No. 1720 of 2023
M.R. Shah · Manoj Misra

Background

A deer horn was found in the appellant's old house, and she was in custody/possession of it. Under the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, anyone possessing such articles had to declare them to the Chief Wild Life Warden within a fixed window under the Declaration of Wild Life Stock Rules, 2003 (180 days from 18.04.2003, i.e., by 18.10.2003). She applied for an ownership certificate only on 25.05.2011, long after this deadline, and the authorities refused to grant the certificate. A Single Judge of the Kerala High Court asked the authorities to consider relaxing the time limit if it had been relaxed in other cases, but a Division Bench reversed this, holding the time limit could not be relaxed.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court upheld the Division Bench's view that the 180-day period under Rule 4(2) of the 2003 Rules is mandatory, not merely directory. It reasoned that the Rules themselves obliged authorities to give wide publicity to the declaration requirement and specifically assist the poor and illiterate in filing such declarations, so no one could later claim ignorance of the deadline. Since the appellant's application was filed nearly eight years late, it was rightly rejected, and the Court found the Madras High Court precedent she relied on inapplicable to her facts. The appeal was dismissed.

Lesson Learnt

Statutory deadlines for declaring possession of protected wildlife articles are strictly enforced; missing such a deadline generally results in permanent loss of the right to claim ownership, with no discretion to condone delay after the fact.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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