Nagpur, The Bombay High Court has ordered the Maharashtra government to compensate a farmer for pomegranate trees damaged by parrots, ruling the birds are 'wild animals' under the Wild Life Act.
The Nagpur bench of Justices Urmila Joshi-Phalke and Nivedita Mehta noted that if farmers are not compensated for losses caused by protected species, they might resort to measures that harm wildlife.
The court has ordered the government to pay ₹200 per tree for damages caused to 200 trees.
The state government opposed the plea, claiming that government resolutions issued in the past stated that compensation can be granted only when wild elephants and bison damage fruit-bearing trees.
The court, however, refused to accept this contention, pointing out that the objective of issuing such resolutions was to compensate affected farmers for losses they suffered.
