JUDGMENT

A.K. Sikri, J.

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 species 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 was, 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.

4. It is a matter of record that leopard is a protected and prohibited specie under Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 (hereinafter referred to as the 'Act'). It is also treated as an endangered species at the international level. Therefore, for import of such a trophy into India, various statutory or legal permissions are required to be taken.

5. Respondent No. 1 for import of the aforesaid trophy of stuffed leopard made his first application on 27.4.2002 to the Regional Deputy Director, Wild Life Protection (WLP). This application was, however, rejected by the Regional Dy. Director (WLP) vide communication dated 16.5.2002. It was stated in this letter by the Dy. Director that as per condition No. 5 of letter issued by the Dy. Inspector General, Wild Life (W.L.) vide his reference dated 9.10.2001 Respondent No. 1 was to obtain clearance and certificate from Director General Foreign Trade (DGFT) and CITES, wherever required and in the absence of any such permission no approval could be granted by the Dy. Inspector General (W.L.).

6. On 23.7.2002, permission was granted by the Joint Director, DGFT. Permission was granted in the form of a license. This license was, however, issued subject to certain conditions stipulated therein. Condition No. 4 thereof, with which we are concerned, reads as under:

The applicant to obtain the clearance and certificate from DGFT and CITES Authorities wherever required

7. It would be pertinent to mention here that after the aforesaid permission was granted by the Jt. Director, albeit conditional, CITES wrote a letter dated 8.11.2002 raising a query as to under what circumstances such a permission was granted. CITES had taken the position that it is under an obligation to regulate the export and import of species as set out in Appendix I of the CITES. The Authority constituted under the CITES is charged with the responsibility of granting approvals under CITES insofar as imports in the Western Region are concerned. As per CITES, the species which are set out in Appendix-I of the Convention, their import and export is to be restricted inasmuch as the spirit of the prohibition against import/export/trade of trophies of prohibited and protected animals is that it is reprehensible to hunt and display endangered species which are fast vanishing fro