New Delhi: The Supreme Court of India, on Wednesday, 26 November 2025, issued an order staying any further translocation of deer from the A.N. Jha Deer Park in Hauz Khas, New Delhi. The Court’s decision comes in response to a Special Leave Petition filed by the New Delhi Nature Society through its representative, Verhaen Khanna, challenging the Delhi High Court’s earlier orders that allowed the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) to resume the translocation of the deer population. The controversy centers around the proposed movement of hundreds of captive deer from the urban sanctuary to wildlife reserves, primarily in Rajasthan.
The Bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta recognized the chronic managerial deficiencies at the A.N. Jha Deer Park, noting that the “absence of adequate segregation, sterilisation, and monitoring mechanisms inevitably led to an exponential increase in the deer population, far exceeding the carrying capacity of the 10.97-acre enclosure.” The Court acknowledged that in such circumstances, “the need for scientific population management through regulated translocation was not only foreseeable but also indispensable for the health, welfare, and sustainability of the deer population.”
However, the Court took serious note of the petitioner-Society’s allegations concerning the first phase of translocation, during which 261 deer were moved to Mukundara Hills Tiger Reserve and Ramgarh Vishdhari Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan. The petitioner alleged critical violations, including the transportation of vulnerable animals such as pregnant females and juveniles in overcrowded trucks, lack of veterinary care during transit, and release into sites without adequate habitat-suitability studies or post-release monitoring.
The Court observed that “the IUCN Guidelines emphasize that any relocation of captive wildlife must be supported by ecological feasibility studies, veterinary screening, tagging or identification processes, and structured post-release surveillance. These safeguards appear, prima facie, to have been applied in a perfunctory or incomplete manner, thereby undermining the legitimacy of the exercise and the welfare of the animals involved.” The judgment further noted that “no scientific assessment was carried out with respect to the carrying capacity of the recipient sanctuaries in Rajasthan, the predator–prey dynamics, or the impact of introducing semi-captive deer into those ecosystems.”
In light of the competing claims and the absence of a verified factual foundation, the Supreme Court directed the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) to conduct a comprehensive, independent, and scientifically grounded assessment. The CEC has been tasked with filing two detailed reports within eight weeks—one on the A.N. Jha Deer Park to determine the present population, ecological carrying capacity, and surplus population; and another on the Rajasthan release sites to enumerate surviving deer, assess habitat suitability, and verify compliance with guidelines.
The Court also issued a strong directive to the DDA, prohibiting the organizing, permitting, or facilitating of “any commercial events, private parties, or non-conservation-related gatherings within the premises of the A.N. Jha Deer Park or its surrounding ecological buffer zones.” The DDA was instead encouraged to develop a non-commercial public outreach program to foster biodiversity awareness.
The Supreme Court underscored that the directions are being issued to “secure the constitutional regime that governs environmental protection and the humane treatment of wildlife in this country.” The matter has been listed again for 17 March 2026 to receive the reports from the CEC and the DDA.
Case Details:
Special Leave Petition (C) No(s). 13374–13375 of 2025
New Delhi Nature Society through Verhaen Khanna v. Director Horticulture, DDA & Ors.
For Petitioner(s):
Ms. Rukhsana Choudhury, AOR; Ms. Amita Singh, Adv.; Ms. Shumaila, Adv.
For Respondent(s):
Ms. Aishwarya Bhati, A.S.G.; Ms. Shrey Jain, Adv.; Mr. Jagdish Chandra Solanki, Adv.;
Mr. Gurmeet Singh Makker, AOR; Ms. Ruchi Kohli, Sr. Adv.; Mr. Piyush Beriwal, Adv.;
Ms. Chitrangda Rastravara, Adv.; Mr. Pratyush Srivastava, Adv.; Ms. Ritika Singhal, Adv.;
Ms. Ritika Prasad, Adv.; Mr. Nitin Mishra, AOR; Ms. Mitali Gupta, Adv.;
Mr. Hargun Singh Kalra, Adv.
