VERY IMPORTANT POINT
Appellants, namely, the circus owners are prohibited from either training or exhibiting any of the five animals viz. bears, monkeys, tigers, panthers and lions under the impugned notification under Section 22 of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 which is valid.

Headnote:Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960-Section 22-Restriction on exhibition and Training of performing animals-Notification under that no person shall train or exhibit bears, monkeys, tigers, panthers and lions-Challenged by writ petition by Circus owners-High Court upheld its validity-Appeal to Supreme Court by special leave-Whether notification is arbitrary and not within the parameters of the Act and thus invalid? (No) (Cross Ref. Sections 21 and 29 of the Act)-Appeals dismissed.
       Held : In the very nature of things when the animals are used for performance in circus, it requires their training. It is for the Government to decide on the basis of the evidence on record and after taking into consideration other factors whether the training and exhibition of those animals would result in unnecessary pain or suffering being inflicted on them. It is pertinent to note that even with respect to the animals whose exhibition and training is prohibited the Act does not prevent the owner from keeping them as domestic pets. Of course, it is going to be difficult to expect someone to have a lion or tiger as a pet. That apart, it is the welfare of the animals which is of paramount consideration and it is only if the Government is satisfied on the basis of the materials on record that unnecessary pain or suffering is inflicted on an animal during the course of training or at the time when it is exhibited that a notification under Section 22(ii) is issued. We are, therefore, unable to agree with the learned counsel for the appellants that the power contained in Section 22 is unguided. The reading of the Act as a whole clearly shows that implicit in Section 22 is the necessity for the Government to come to the conclusion that if a notification under said Section is issued there would be unnecessary pain or suffering in the training or exhibition of the animals. The existence of the said fact is a pre-condition to the issuance of the Notification. (Para 11)
       We agree with the decision of the High Court that in exercise of judicial review neither the High Court nor this Court can go into the correctness of the decision of the Government in issuing the impugned Notification. We are not satisfied that the Government acted irresponsibly or did not take into consideration the relevant materials which were available to it. A High Powered Committee had been constituted under the directions of the High Court, that Committee looked into all the evidence which was placed before it and the High Court has referred to extracts thereof which shows the manner in which the animals are trained or ill-trained. We need not make any further observations in respect thereof except to hold that we are satisfied that the impugned Notification is within the parameters of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960. For the aforesaid reasons, these appeals are dismissed. Parties to bear their own costs. (Paras 14 and 15)

JUDGMENT

Kirpal, J.-Intervention applications on behalf of Indian Circus Federation are allowed.

2. Special leave granted.

3. The main challenge in these appeals by special leave from the judgment of the Kerala High Court is to the validity of Section 22 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 (for short "the Act") and the Notification issued under Section 22 to the effect that no person shall train or exhibit any animals specified therein, namely, bears, monkeys, tigers, panthers and lions.

4. Briefly stated the facts are that on 2nd March, 1991 a Notification under Section 22 was issued banning training and exhibition of bears, monkeys, tigers, panthers and dogs. This Notification was challenged by the Indian Circus Federation before the High Court of Delhi. After the issuance of the Notification, a corrigendum was issued whereby dogs were excluded from the said Notification. Thereafter by an order dated 21st August, 1997, a Division Bench of the Delhi High Court required the Government of India to have a fresh look into the Notification after taking into account materials placed before it by the petitioners therein and other authorities.

5. A Committee was constituted by the Government of India consisting of Additional Inspector General (Wildlife), Director, Wildlife Institute of India, Member Secretary, Central Zoo Authority, Additional IGF (Retd.) and Director, Animal Welfare. The said Committee gave a detailed Report and in pursuance thereto the impugned Notification dated 14th October, 1998 was issued under Section 22 whereby exhibition and training of bears, monkeys, tigers, panthers and lions was prohibited.

6. The said Notification was challenged by filing a writ petition in the Kerala High Court and by the impugned judgment dated 6th June, 2000, the High Court has upheld the validity of the said Notification. It, inter alia, came to the conclusion that in exercise of judicial review it was not possible for the court to examine the correctness of the decision of the Government in issuing the said Notification especially when it had not been shown that any relevant fact had been ignored or irrelevant fact taken into consideration. Hence, these appeals.

7. The main thrust of the arguments of the learned counsel for the appellants has been that apart from Section 22 the Notification itself is arbitrary. It has been contended that Section 22 contains no guidelines on the basis of which the Central Government can issue a notification banning exhibition and training of any animal. It is also the case of the appellants that the Act does not provide for the animals to be taken away by the Government once such a notification is issued.

8. The preamble of the Act states that it was enacted with a view "to prevent the infliction of unnecessary pain or suffering on animals and for that purpose to amend the law relating to the prevention of cruelty to animals". Section 11 provides as to what amounts to cruelty to animals generally. Section 21 defines the words `exhibit and `train and reads as follows :

"21. "Exhibit" and "train" defined-In this Chapter, "exhibit" means exhibit at any entertainment to which the public are admitted through sale of tickets, and "train" means train for the purpose of any such exhibition, and the expression "exhibitor" and "trainer" have respectively the corresponding meanings."

9. Sections 22 and 24 with which we are concerned read as follows :

"22. Restriction on exhibition and training of performing animals-No person shall exhibit or train-

(i) any performing animal unless he is registered in accordance with the provisions of this Chapter;

(ii) as a performing animal, any animal which the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, specify as an animal which shall not be exhibited or trained as a performing animal."

"24. Power of court to prohibit or restrict exhibition and training of performing animals-(1) Where it is proved to the satisfact

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2001 Supreme(SC) 822

VERY IMPORTANT POINTAppellants, namely, the circus owners are prohibited from either training or exhibiting any of the five animals viz. bears, monkeys, tigers, panthers and lions under the impugned notification under Section 22 of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 which is valid.

VERY IMPORTANT POINT
Appellants, namely, the circus owners are prohibited from either training or exhibiting any of the five animals viz. bears, monkeys, tigers, panthers and lions under the impugned notification under Section 22 of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 which is valid.