The Kerala government is considering an amendment to the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, for addressing specific challenges faced by the State in the area of human-wildlife conflict, Minister for Law and Industries P. Rajeeve has said.
The amendment under consideration to the Central law seeks to authorise the Chief Wildlife Warden “to permit any person, by following certain procedures, to kill, tranquilise or capture a wild animal if it attacks someone and causes serious injury or if such an animal is found in a public place,” Mr. Rajeeve said.
He was addressing a Regional Conference on Human-Wildlife Conflict and Co-existence: Legal and Policy Perspectives’ organised by the Kerala State Legal Services Authority (KELSA) and the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) which opened here on Saturday.
The decision to propose an amendment to a Central law is based on legal advice that the State government is competent to propose such an amendment, Mr. Rajeeve said. He later told The Hindu that the government proposes to introduce the Bill, which is awaiting Cabinet nod, in the upcoming session of the State Legislative Assembly. Since the amendment concerns a Central law, the bill, once passed by the Assembly, would also require the assent of the President, he said.
Article 254(2) of the Constitution allows a State Legislature to pass a law on a subject in the Concurrent List, subject to the condition that it has the President’s assent.
“In the context of human-wildlife conflict, the State has struggled for years under the limitations of the Central law,” Mr. Rajeeve said at the conference, observing that human-wildlife conflict has reached a critical stage in Kerala, posing a serious threat to human welfare. “Kerala has become the epicentre of this challenge,” he said.
Observing that marginalised sections and small farmers were the most affected due to this conflict, Mr. Rajeeve also drew attention to the resolution passed by the State Assembly in February 2024 urging the Centre to amend the Wildlife Protection Act for mitigating human-wildlife conflicts.
The two-day conference was inaugurated by Supreme Court judge Surya Kant, who is also executive chairman of NALSA. Supreme Court judges M.M. Sundaresh, B.V. Nagarathna and Vikram Nath, Attorney General of India R. Venkataramani, and Kerala High Court Chief Justice Nitin Jamdar, also spoke.
Published – August 30, 2025 06:22 pm IST
