THE WILD LIFE (PROTECTION) ACT NO. 53 OF 1972,

[9th September, 1972]


An Act to provide for the protection of wild animals and birds and for matters connected therewith or ancillary or incidental thereto.

WHEREAS it is expedient to provide for the protection of wild animals and birds and for matters connected therewith or ancillary or incidental thereto;

AND WHEREAS Parliament has no power to make laws for the States with respect to any of the matters aforesaid except as provided in articles 249 and 250 of the Constitution;

AND WHEREAS in pursuance of clause (1) of article 252 of the
Constitution resolutions have been passed by all the Houses of the
Legislatures of the States of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar
Pradesh and West Bengal to the effect that the matters aforesaid should be regulated in those States by Parliament by law;

BE it enacted by Parliament in the Twenty-third Year of the
Republic of India as follows:-


CHAP

PRELIMINARY.


CHAPTER I

PRELIMINARY


1.Short title, extent and commencement.


1. Short title, extent and commencement. (1) This Act may be called the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972.(2) It extends, in the first instance, to the whole of the
States of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya



406.Pradesh, Manipur, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West, Bengal and to all the Union territories; and it shall also extend to such other State as may adopt this Act by resolution passed in that behalf in pursuance of clause (1) of article 252 of the Constitution.

(3) It shall come into force in a State or Union territory to which it extends, or may become extended in future, on such date as the Central Government may, by notification, appoint, and different dates may be appointed for different provisions of this Act or for different States or Union territories.


2.Definitions.


2. Definitions. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,--



(1) "animal" includes amphibians, birds, mammals and reptiles and their young, and also includes, in the cases of birds and reptiles, their eggs;

(2) "animal article" means an article made from any captive animal or wild animal, other than vermin, and includes an article or object in which the whole or any part of such animal has been used;

(3) "big game" means any animal specified in Schedule III;

(4) "Board" means the Wild Life Advisory Board constituted under sub-section (1) of section 6;

(5) "captive animal" means any animal, specified in
Schedule I, Schedule II, Schedule III or Schedule IV, which is captured or kept or bred in captivity;

(6) "cattle" includes buffaloes, bulls, bullocks, camels, cows, domestic elephants, donkeys, goats, horses, mules, pigs and sheep, and also includes their young;

(7) "Chief Wild Life Warden means the person appointed as such under clause (a) of sub-section (1) of section 4;

(8) "closed area means the area which is declared under sub-section (1) of section 37 to be closed to hunting;

(9)"Collector" means the chief officer in charge of the revenue administration of a district;

(10) "commencement of this Act", in relation to-

(a) a State, means commencement of this Act in that
State,

(b) any provision of this Act, means the commencement of that provision In the concerned State;

(11) "dealer" means any person who carries on the business of buying and selling any captive animal, animal article, trophy, uncured trophy or meat;

(12) "Director" means the person appointed as Director of
Wild Life Preservation under clause (a) of sub-section (1) of section 3;

(13) "game reserve" means an area declared under section 36.to be a game reserve;

(14) "Government property" means any property referred to In section 39;


1. Madhya Pradesh 25-1-1973 G.S.R. 28 (E)
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25-1-1973.2. Gujarat 1-2-1973 G.S.R 422 (E)
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1-2-1973.3. Uttar Pradesh 1-2-1973 G.S.R. 44(E)
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1-2-1973.4. Himachal Pradesh 2-4-1973 G.S.R. 190 (E)
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2-4-1973.5. West Bengal 1-5-1973 G.S.R. 224 (E)
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1-5-1973.6. Manipur 15-5-1973 G.S.R. 269 (E)
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15-5-1973.7. Arunachal Pradesh 15-5-1973 G.S.R. 272 (E)
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15-5-1973.8. Kerala 1-6-1973 G.S.R.293 (E)
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1-6-1973.9. Maharashtra 1-6-1973 G.S.R. 296 (E)
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1-6-1973.10. Delhi 1-6-1973 G.S.R. 299 (E)
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1-6-1973.11. Mysore 1-7-1973 G.S.R. 335 (E)
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1-7-1973.12. Rajashtan 1-9-1973 G.S.R 410 (E)
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1-9-1973.13. Dadra and Nagar Haveli. 1-9-1973 G.S.R. 413 (E)
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1-9-1973.14. Tripura 2-10-1973 G.S.R. 465 (E)
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2-10-1973.15. Lakashadweep 1-11-1973 G.S.R. 481 (E)
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1-11-1973.16. Tamil Nadu 1-1-1974 G.S.R. 1 (E)
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1-1-1974.17. Bihar 1-2-1973 G.S.R. 40 (E)
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1-2-1973.18. Pondicherry 1.3.1975 G.S.R. 62 (E)
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19. Punjab 1.4.1975 G.S.R. 178 (E)
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1.4.1975.20. Sikkim 1.5.1976 G.S.R. 311 (E)
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1.5.1976.21. Mizoram 1.10.1974 G.S.R. 407 (E)
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1.10.1974.22. Assam 26.1.1977 G.S.R. 33 (E)
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25.1.1977.23. Meghalaya 1.4.1977 G.S.R. 153 (E)
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1.4.1977.24. Nagaland 18.12.1981 G.S.R. 668 (E)
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16.12.1981.407.--------------
(15) "habitat" includes land, water or vegetation which is the natural home of any wild animal;

(16) "hunting", with its grammatical variations and cognate expressions, includes,-


(a) capturing, killing, poisoning, snaring and trapping of any wild animal and every attempt to do so,

(b) driving any wild animal for any of the purposes speci-
fied in sub-clause (a),

(c) injuring or destroying or taking any part of the body of any such animal or, in the case of wild birds or reptiles, damaging the eggs of such birds or reptiles, or disturbing the eggs or nests of such birds or reptiles;

(17) "land" includes canals, creeks and other water channels, reservoirs, rivers, streams and lakes, whether artificial or natural, and also includes boulders and rocks;

(18) "licence" means a licence granted under this Act;

(19) "manufacturer" means a manufacturer of animal articles;

(20) "meat" includes blood, bones, sinew, eggs, fat and flesh, whether raw or cooked, of any wild animal, other than vermin;

(21) "National Park" means an area declared, whether under section 35 or section 38, or deemed, under sub-section (3) of section
66, to be declared, as a National Park;

(22) "notification" means a notification published in the
Official Gazette;

(23) "permit" means a permit granted under this Act or any rule made thereunder;

(24) "person" includes a firm;

(25) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act;

(26) "sanctuary" means an area declared, whether under section 18.or section 38, or deemed, under sub-section (3) of section 66, to be declared, as a wild life sanctuary;

(27) "small game" means any animal specified in Schedule IV;

(28) "special game" means any animal specified in Schedule II;

(29) "State Government", in relation to a Union territory, means the Administrator of that Union territory appointed by the President under article 239 of the Constitution;

(30) "taxidermy", with its grammatical variations and cognate expressions, means the curing, preparation or preservation of trophies;

(31) "trophy" means the whole or any part of any captive animal or wild animal, other than vermin, which has been kept or preserved by any means, whether artificial or natural, and includes--


(a) rugs, skins and specimens of such animal mounted in whole or in part through a process of taxidermy, and


408.(b) antler, horn, rhinoceros horn, hair, feather, nail, tooth, musk, eggs and nests;

(32) "uncured trophy" means the whole or any part of any captive animal or wild animal, other than vermin, which has not undergone a process of taxidermy, and includes a freshly killed wild animal;

(33) "vehicle" means any conveyance used for movement on land, water or air and includes buffalo, bull, bullock, camel, donkey, elephant, horse and mule;

(34) "vermin" means any wild animal specified in Schedule V;

(35) "weapon" includes ammunition, bows and arrows, explosives, firearms, hooks knives, nets poison, snares and traps and any instru-
ment or apparatus capable of anaesthetizing, decoying, destroying, injuring or killing an animal;

(36) "wild animal" means any animal found wild in nature and includes any animal specified in Schedule 1, Schedule II, Schedule
III, Schedule IV or Schedule V, wherever found;

(37) "wild life" includes any animal, bees, butterflies, crustacea, fish and moths; and aquatic or land vegetation which forms part of any habitat;

(38) "Wild Life Warden" means the person appointed as such under clause (b) of sub-section (1) of section 4.