The Supreme Court, while addressing an Intervention Application (IA) related to captive elephants in Kerala, made an oral observation that certain matters are best addressed by High Courts, given their familiarity with the local conditions of a state. The bench, consisting of CJI DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala, and Justice Manoj Misra, emphasized that the apex court cannot be rendered dysfunctional by micromanaging issues from across the country.
Senior Advocate CU Singh, representing the intervenors, pointed out that the primary concern regarding captive elephants had already been addressed by the Supreme Court. He highlighted the alarming number of deaths of elephants under the age of 50 years in Kerala, stating,
“They’re not doing the postmortem because they don’t want to identify malnutrition as the cause. 131 captive elephants in Kerala had died between February-September 2022. Majority of them were under 50 years. Till September 2023, 22 more recorded deaths have been there. It’s a startlingly high rate.”
However, the bench seemed hesitant to entertain the plea. CJI Chandrachud questioned,
“Why don’t you approach the HC? Supreme Court should not be spread thin…Anyone can intervene and start joining any matter now…”
Expressing concern over the increasing number of IAs in cases before the Supreme Court, the CJI added,
“We don’t know the ramifications of an order we may pass. The High Court judges are suited to understand local conditions. Let them make a primary order…if they make an egregious error, we are here. How do we run the country like this? Tomorrow we will have an IA from Maharashtra or other states also…The Supreme Court is not here to deal with micromanagement like this. If the High Court commits an egregious error, we’ll be here.”
The court’s order reflected its stance, stating,
“There is a proliferation of IAs from intervenors. The pan India issues raised by petitioners would merit attention of this court. We are of the view that it’s not possible for this court to go into prayers of intervenors. Intervenors will be heard on substantive issues. List in the first week of December.”
Case Title: Wildlife Rescue And Rehabilitation Centre And Ors. v. Union Of India And Ors. W.P.(C) No. 743/2014 PIL-W
