A major draw of Russian Circus on Ice, the four sea lions from Moscow, will, after all, be able to perform in the city.

On Wednesday, Calcutta High Court passed an order clearing their performance till December 20.

The order comes barely two days before the mammals were to leave for Mumbai, the next stop of the circus, and then, back home to Moscow, in huge air-conditioned carriers.

Justice Pronob Chatterjee of Calcutta High Court passed the order asking Customs officials to explain why the sea lions should not be allowed to perform.

The explanation should reach the court by December 20, till when the organisers have been allowed to go ahead with the show.

The sea lion act was held up following an objection from Customs, which claimed that the animals had been illegally brought in and that the authorities concerned had not produced the relevant papers justifying otherwise.

Wednesday?s order follows a writ petition by the event managers on behalf of the authorities.

?It?s a huge relief for all of us. We had taken great pains to bring the four sea lions here. It seemed that the city would miss out on their grand performance. The sea lions have always been one of the star attractions of the Russian circus all over the world,? said Bhaswar Goswami of Celebrity Management Group, which is managing the circus shows.

?If things go according to plan, we should be able to kick off the performance from Thursday,? he added.

The decision to allow the circus to go ahead with the performance has been very satisfying for the organisers.

They incurred an expenditure of about Rs 10,000 per day to keep the sea lions in the city for this long.

The clearance has also pepped up Julia, who trains the sea lions and had been specially flown in from Moscow.

The organisers claim that if her track record is anything to go by, the city will be mesmerised by the performance of the sea lions, particularly the one with the ball.