Supreme Court Suspends Kerala HC's Limitations on Elephant Usage in Temple Celebrations
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New Delhi/Kochi, Dec 19 (NationPress) The Supreme Court on Thursday suspended the limitations set by the Kerala High Court concerning the use of elephants during temple celebrations.
The temple trusts of Thiruvambady and Paramekkavu Devaswoms appealed to the Supreme Court contesting the limitations enforced by the Kerala High Court on elephant management during Thrissur Pooram. The bench, comprising Justices B.V. Nagarathna and N.K. Singh, issued an order halting the High Court's directive.
The bench remarked that the High Court's guidelines were “impractical” and questioned how it could establish rules, taking over the authority responsible for rule-making.
Regarded as the “mother of all festivals” in Kerala, the Thrissur Pooram was initiated by Sakthan Thampuran, the Maharaja of the former Kochi state, in the late 18th century.
The most anticipated event of the Pooram celebrations is the elephant parade, featuring over 50 elephants, along with the firecracker displays, which commence in the afternoon and extend into the early hours of the following day.
Considering all factors, the Kerala High Court mandated that henceforth, festival organizers must submit applications with all pertinent details to the relevant authorities at least one month before the festival.
Moreover, the High Court dictated that elephants should not be paraded on public roads between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. and should not be transported between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m. Additionally, it required that elephants receive at least eight hours of rest within any continuous 24-hour period.
The appeal, lodged by the two temple bodies through advocate M.R. Abhilash in the apex court, argued that the “spatial restriction” enforcing a minimum distance of 3 meters between elephants would bring the historic festival to a standstill, as the thousand-year-old venue, the Vadakkumnathan Temple, essential to Thrissur Pooram, cannot accommodate such limitations. This venue, with its traditional layout, has been the focal point of the Pooram for centuries, and the directive from the Kerala High Court undermines the significance of this historic and UNESCO-recognized tradition.
