- (1.) The first respondent herein wanted to import into India a trophy of one stuffed leopard which he shot in Zambia. Leopard is a protected and prohibited specie under Schedule I of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 and also under the Convention of International Trade on Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Therefore, requisite permission under the aforesaid provisions is needed to import such a trophy. Respondent No.1 had, in fact, applied for such permissions, the details whereof and the outcome thereof will be mentioned at a later stage, at the relevant place.
(2.) To put it in nutshell here, the CITES had refused to grant the permission. However, the High Court vide impugned judgment dated 28.04.2003 has come to the conclusion that the authorities which were required to give the permission had accorded due permission to the respondent no.1 and further that in such circumstances CITES had no locus to entertain the application or to reject it. The writ petition is, accordingly, allowed. Present appeal, via grant of special leave, arises out of the aforesaid judgment.
(3.) Now, some facts in detail: Respondent No.1 hunted certain animals in Zambia in June, 2000. No doubt, this hunting was with due permission taken from the Government of Zambia. Thereafter, he exported the hunted animals to Zimbabwe for processing them into items of taxidermy hunting trophies. Respondent No. 1 claims that he had complied with the local laws prevailing in Zambia as well as Zimbabwe for the aforesaid purposes. One of the items, with which we are concerned, is the trophy of stuffed leopard. He wanted to bring this trophy into India.;