New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday declined to entertain a Kerala government plea challenging the state high court order asking it to translocate a rogue elephant to the Parambikulam tiger reserve in the state’s Palakkad district.
The Kerala government, earlier in the day, mentioned the plea for hearing before a bench headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud and it decided to hear the plea during the day.
During the hearing, the bench, also comprising Justices P.S. Narasimha and J.B. Pardiwala, observed that the high court had considered the view of the expert committee and passed a reasoned order. However, the state government pressed that the elephant should be sent to a training centre, since it had killed seven people and destroyed several homes.
The bench told the Kerala government counsel that experts have said that the elephant needs to be relocated, while declining to interfere with the high court order. It further added that the committee has suggested something and the state government cannot go over it.
The state government contended that one week was given by the high court to relocate the elephant to an alternative space, and if the state government fails, then it has to be shifted to Parambikulam. Counsel pressed that the government had decided to relocate the elephant to a training centre against the backdrop that the elephant had killed people and destroyed several homes.
After hearing arguments in the matter, the bench declined to entertain the appeal by the state government against the high court order.
The Kerala High Court, last week, declined to review its decision to translocate the rice-eating tusker to the Parambikulam tiger reserve.
On April 5, the high court had directed relocation of the elephant to the tiger reserve in accordance with the suggestion made by the expert committee.
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