Kochi: Malayalam superstar and Dadasaheb Phalke Award winner Mohanlal has been dealt a big blow by the Kerala High Court.
A Division Bench of the high court on Friday ruled that the ivory ownership certificates granted to Mohanlal by the state government are illegal and unenforceable.
A bench of Justices A K Jayasankaran Nambiar and Jobin Sebastian struck down state government orders dated February 2015 and February 2016, along with the ownership certificates issued in January and April 2016 by the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Wildlife, observing that the procedures followed were illegal from the outset.
There was, however, a ray of hope for Mohanlal.
Declaring the certificates and accompanying orders “void”, the high court clarified that the state government can still issue a fresh notification under Section 44 of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, if it wishes to provide the actor with legal ownership and protection under the law.
The controversy originated in June 2012, when the Income Tax Department raided Mohanlal’s residence and seized four elephant tusks, which were handed over to the Forest Department.
A case was registered under Section 50 of the Wildlife Protection Act as the actor did not have the required ownership certificate. Mohanlal had claimed that the ivory was legally purchased. The Kerala government subsequently issued ownership certificates to the actor in 2016.
The matter resurfaced in 2019 after Mohanlal asked the government to withdraw criminal proceedings against him. The state moved to drop the case, but a Judicial Magistrate dismissed the plea in 2023.
Public interest litigations were filed by individuals named James Mathew and Paulose, who alleged that the certificates had been granted to Mohanlal through corruption and collusion to regularise ivory that he possessed illegally.
The plea questioned the state government’s motive behind legitimising items that should have remained under seizure.
The Kerala High Court heard the matter, and came to the conclusion that Mohanlal’s ivory ownerships papers were indeed illegal.