Guwahati, Sept. 18 -- The Gauhati High Court has declined, for now, to restrain the transfer of five captive elephants from Assam to temples in Tamil Nadu, after the Assam government told the court that all necessary clearances had been obtained and that every possible care would be taken for their safe transportation.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Ashutosh Kumar and Justice Arun Dev Choudhury passed the order on Thursday (September 17) while hearing an interlocutory application filed by conservationist Rohit Choudhury in a pending writ petition concerning the legal framework governing captive elephants.

The court, however, kept the application pending and directed the Additional Advocate General of Assam to respond to it by...