A memorandum by conservationists, legal experts, ex-bureaucrats and former forest officials has urged Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar to withhold assent to the contentious Wild Life Protection (Kerala Amendment) Bill, 2025.
The mass petition spearheaded by Coexistence Collective, a broad coalition of environmental organisations, has raised serious concerns over the Bill’s potential to undermine the State’s wildlife protection laws and disrupt the country’s ecological security.
Among the key points of concern, the proposed law allegedly contradicts provisions of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 (WLPA), specifically Section 11, which vests exclusive authority in the Chief Wildlife Warden for decisions on killing, capturing and translocating wild animals. The proposed amendment would decentralise the power, allowing District Collectors and Chief Conservators of Forests to take decisions that fall outside the statutory framework established by the WLPA.
Without approval
According to the memorandum, the Bill has been introduced without the required approval from the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL). Since the Bill seeks to amend the Central Act, which is a law under the concurrent list, any State amendment that modifies or deviates from the particular law will have to be scrutinised by the NBWL or its Standing Committee. The absence of the mandatory approval renders the Bill procedurally defective and legally flawed, it stated.
The Bill has also been criticised for lacking scientific studies and ecological assessments. Wildlife conflict management requires evidence-based approaches, the petitioners point out.
The proposed legislation is also flagged for granting broader powers to authorise the killing of wild animals in conflict situations. This is seen as a dangerous step away from the National Tiger Conservation Authority and Project Elephant’s guidelines, which essentially emphasise rehabilitation, translocation and non-lethal interventions before resorting to killings.
The Bill also “unlawfully” allows the State to appropriate the Central government’s power under Section 62 of the WLPA to declare a species as ‘vermin’. This could potentially disrupt federal balance and violate India’s commitments to international treaties such as the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
Root cause
The State government move is also criticised for ignoring the root cause of human wildlife conflicts, politicising wildlife protection, disregarding judicial precedents, and undermining grassroots-level enforcement.
The memorandum has been endorsed by a distinguished group including Medha Patkar, Maneka Gandhi, Claude Alvaris, V.S. Vijayan, Pandhuranga Hegde, Praveen Bhargava and P.S. Easa.
Among the signatories are former senior forest officials including former Chief Wildlife Warden Surendra Kumar, and former Principal Chief Conservators of Forests Prakriti Srivastava and O.P. Kaler.
Coexistence Collective members N. Badusha, Veena Maruthoor, Santhosh T.S., T.V. Rajan, M.N. Jayachandran, K.M. Sulaiman and Anwar Sadath addressed a press conference here on Thursday.
Published – November 13, 2025 08:17 pm IST
