The Madras High Court on Wednesday set aside a single-judge’s direction prohibiting temples in Tamil Nadu from acquiring elephants, holding that the direction went beyond the dispute before the Court and affected temples that were not parties to the case.
A Division Bench of Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G. Arul Murugan, upheld all directions concerning the custody, medical treatment, retirement and welfare of Lalitha, a female elephant whose deteriorating health had led to the original proceedings.
The Bench held that courts exercising writ jurisdiction must ordinarily confine their orders to the pleadings and parties before them. The Court emphasized that a fair hearing is a fundamental right rather than a mere technicality, ruling that even well-meaning directions cannot stand if they impact parties who were never given a chance to present their case.
The appeals arose from a February 2023 order passed by a single judge after Lalitha suffered multiple falls between December 2022 and February 2023. Following a personal inspection, the judge directed that she be placed under the care of the forest authorities and the District Level Captive Elephant Welfare Committee for treatment.
The single judge also held that Lalitha had attained the retirement age of 60 years and directed that her mahout and his assistant continue looking after her.
However, the order extended beyond Lalitha’s case. It directed the inspection of all temple-owned and privately held elephants in Tamil Nadu, asked the government to consider shifting captive elephants to rehabilitation camps and directed the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department to instruct temples not to acquire elephants in the future.
The Tamil Nadu government and the Tiruchendur temple, which owned Lalitha, challenged these directions before the Division Bench.
The High Court held that the blanket prohibition could not be sustained as the original proceedings concerned only the rejection of an application seeking transfer of Lalitha’s ownership.
The Bench also noted that such a prohibition was inconsistent with the Tamil Nadu Captive Elephants (Management and Maintenance) Rules, 2011. Rule 3 permits a temple to receive a donated elephant with prior permission from the Chief Wildlife Warden, subject to scrutiny of the elephant’s health, age and pedigree and the temple’s infrastructure and financial capacity.
The Court said the Rules provide a comprehensive framework governing the housing, feeding, transportation, work, retirement and inspection of captive elephants. The Bench made it clear that while deciding a single case, a court can’t hand down orders that essentially ignore or override existing rules unless someone has actually challenged those rules in court.
The Court also clarified that a September 2021 Division Bench order prohibiting the fresh capture of wild elephants did not prevent temples from accepting elephants that were already in captivity.
At the same time, the Bench retained all safeguards ordered for Lalitha, including her retirement, medical treatment, continued care by her mahout and his assistant, access to an animal-welfare volunteer and protection from noise pollution.
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