Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud Tuesday said the Supreme Court’s role is not to micromanage issues that arise across the country. He further sought to underline that local issues are best left to the High Courts. “.How can we run the country like this? On every little thing… Now tomorrow we will have an IA from Maharashtra, we will have an IA from Karnataka. How do we deal with it? We have to as a court have broader functional understanding, what is the role of the Supreme Court in the nation? Not to deal with micromanagement of issues which arise all over the country. If the HC commits an egregious error, we are here. We will correct the error. If there is a violation of the law by the HC, which is obviously not likely in a given situation…” the CJI presiding over a three-judge bench remarked while hearing a matter related to captive elephants. The main petition which raises questions on captive elephants in the light of the Wildlife Protection Act has been pending before the Court since 2014. However, more than two dozen Intervention Applications (IAs) have also been filed in the petition since then. Tuesday, one such IA filed by a native of Kerala came up before the bench also comprising Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra. Taking exception to what it said is the “proliferation of IAs”, the bench told senior advocate C U Singh who appeared for the applicant that he should approach the Kerala HC. Singh said 131 captive elephants had died in the state between February and September 2022 and that a majority of them were under 50 years old. He added that after the IA was filed in November 2022 till September 23, there were 22 more recorded deaths. “There may be some unrecorded too. It’s a startlingly high rate,” he said. But the bench pointed out that he was not the petitioner but an intervenor who was seeking substantive relief. “You are an intervenor based in Kerala. Point this out to the HC there. Because these are matters pertaining to states. We have a petition pan-India. We should make sure that the SC is not rendered dysfunctional because we spread ourselves too thin. You have a plea dealing specifically with facets that pertain to the state of Kerala. You are not even a petitioner, but an intervenor. Go to the HC, let the HC deal with it,” said the CJI. Singh said that elephants are being brought from Assam and Arunachal Pradesh directly in the teeth of the Wildlife Protection Act and, therefore, the SC intervention is sought. However, the CJI said, “Look at this. This is now PIL at its pristine best. Anybody can intervene… and join the bandwagon.” Advocate K Parameshwar appearing for elephant owners pointed out that 28 IA’s had been filed in the matter. “Essential prayer is to get all elephants away from captivity. We are all owners of those elephants under the relevant statutory scheme. Every year, the moment the festival season in Kerala starts, these IA’s start coming asking to injunct the owners from using the elephants to be paraded in temple festivals, start an investigation, etc,” he submitted. The CJI said, “My concern is this. We are not saying that what you (petitioners) point out does not deserve (consideration). But there are 1,000 issues which merit attention. The SC should not render itself completely dysfunctional. Also, we deal with these issues on an ad-hoc basis. Pick up an IA here, pick up an IA there, pass order. You have HCs which consist of some seasoned judges. They know the ground reality. They know the impact of passing an order disabling the use of elephants. It’s also a matter which relates to local feelings. We don’t know the ramifications of an order like this which we will pass. Judges of the HC are peculiarly suited to understand the local conditions, they understand the context in which these elephants are housed. Let them deal with the matter at a primary level. If they make an egregious error, we are here to correct those errors.” Senior advocate Siddhart Luthra said that “we are only on the larger issue which arises across (the) country.” The Court agreed to hear the main petition which raises the pan-India issue but said it is of the view that it will not be possible for the Court to entertain such IAs. It said in the order, “There is a proliferation of IAs in the petition which is pending before this court since 2014. The pan-India issues which has been raised by the petitioners pertaining to elephants in captivity would merit the attention of this court. IAs are now being filed by intervenors… We are of the view that it will not be possible for this court to entertain such IAs. The intervenors may be heard on the substantive issue which are raised in the writ petition.” The Court directed that the matter be listed for final disposal in the first week of December.
