The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed a series of restrictions imposed by the Kerala high court on the use of elephants in temple festivals, describing them as “impractical” and exceeding judicial authority.
Among the high court’s directives were mandates for a minimum 3-metre gap between two elephants, an 8-metre distance between elephants and the public or percussion displays, and a 100-metre buffer from areas where fireworks are used. Additionally, the high court required elephants to have at least three days of rest between public exhibitions.
“Any direction issued by the high court contrary to the Kerala Captive Elephants (Management and Maintenance) Rules, 2012, shall remain stayed,” ordered a bench of justices BV Nagarathna and N Kotiswar Singh, in effect staying the additional guidelines issued by the high court in November.
The bench passed the order in response to appeals filed by the Thiruvambady and Paramekkavu devaswoms, organisers of Kerala’s iconic Thrissur Pooram festival. The bench remarked that the high court’s directions ventured into the domain of rule-making, which is the prerogative of legislative and executive authorities.
The high court had in previous proceedings last month observed that using elephants in temple festivals was not an essential religious practice. It had also noted that the guidelines were issued to complement the existing rules and make them more effective.
Last week, the high court also issued a contempt notice to an officer of the Cochin Devaswom Board for allegedly breaching its guidelines on parading elephants at temple festivals. The high court had based its guidelines on recommendations from experts, including PS Easa, a former director of the Kerala Forest Research Institute. Easa, a member of the expert committee in the Arikomban elephant case, had warned that relaxing the 3-meter rule could increase risks of mishaps involving the animals.
The devaswoms, however, argued before the Supreme Court that the directives were not only impractical but also posed a significant threat to the continuity of traditional festivals. For instance, under the high court’s 3-metre distance rule, the number of elephants at festivals like the one held at Thripunithura Poornathrayeesa temple, which typically parades 15 elephants, would have to be drastically reduced. This, the devaswoms argued, would disrupt the cultural and religious significance of poorams, central to Kerala’s temple traditions.
Staying the high court order for the time being, the Supreme Court bench clarified that its intervention was not to compromise safety but to ensure that judicial directions do not conflict with the 2021 rules which is a piece of valid legislation.
The court’s stay brings relief to temple authorities as the annual festival season in central Kerala is underway, beginning with the Thripunithura Poornathrayeesa festival in late November.