The Supreme Court has stayed the Kerala High Court order that banned the temples and devaswoms, which could not register with the District Committees before the cut-off date of May 31, 2022, from parading elephants at festivals.
The Bench of Justice BV Nagarathna and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma passed the order on Monday on a petition filed by Vishwa Gaja Seva Samithi, an organisation, challenging the interim order passed by the High Court on January 13.
Earlier in December 2024, the same Bench had stayed a previous order passed by the High Court that mandated, among other things, a minimum distance of 3 meters between the elephants paraded during temple festivals.
The Apex Court had made an oral observation during the December hearing that the temple customs could not be curtailed. It further noted that the High Court’s directions were not practical.
On March 16, the same Bench had stayed another interim judgment by the High Court, passed despite the Supreme Court stay order.
The Bench of Justice AK Jayasankaran Nambiar and Justice Gopinath P of the High Court delivered the verdict on a suo motu case regarding various issues related to captive elephants in Kerala.
It then directed the State to specify ‘sufficient space’.
The Bench observed that while staying a direction issued by the High Court, the top court of the country directed that the provisions of the Kerala Captive Elephants (Management and Maintenance) Rules, 2012, shall be strictly complied with both in letter and spirit by the petitioners therein.
It pointed out that Rule 10(4)(i) spoke about ‘sufficient space,’ which needed to be maintained between elephants.
The High Court said that compliance with the 2012 Rules would remain incomplete till the organisers of the festivals and those parading the elephants at such festivals complied with the Rule requiring them to maintain sufficient space between the elephants.
It directed the State of Kerala to specify the distance that should be maintained between elephants and the crowd during festivals, stating that it would prevent the occurrence of accidents such as the one that happened in Tirur.
The High Court further ordered that no fresh permission shall be granted to the temples and Devaswoms to conduct elephant processions after the cut-off date of August 18, 2015, set by the Supreme Court in its 2015 order, directing their registration with the District Committee to carry out processions and parades.
The Bench noted that this cut-off date was extended till May 31, 2022 by the Kerala government through a Government Order.
It further directed the District Committees not to entertain any application seeking permission to parade elephants from temples, Devaswoms or organising committees, which have not registered themselves with the District Committee within the time permitted for the same by the order of the Supreme Court and the GO issued by the Kerala government.
The District Committees were further directed to consider applications from registered temples only, after ensuring that the elephants in question were fit for parading and that the 2012 Rules were strictly adhered to in letter and spirit.
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