New Delhi (PTI): There may be a thousand issues meriting attention but everything cannot be entertained to make the Supreme Court dysfunctional, Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud said on Tuesday while declining to hear an interim plea on the deaths of captive elephants in Kerala.

"These are local issues which may be dealt with by the high courts. If they make an egregious error then we are here to correct those errors. But you know how can we run the country," a bench comprising Chief Justice Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra said.

"What is the role of the Supreme Court in the nation ... we are not to deal with these, you know, micromanagement of issues which arise all over the country. If the high court commits an egregious error we are here and will correct the error," it said.

Senior advocate CU Singh, appearing for an intervenor, at the outset raised the issue of deaths of captive elephants in Kerala, violation of rules and sought an urgent hearing.

"More than 135 captive elephants in Kerala died due to neglect, overwork between February 2019 to November 2022," he said.

The bench asked Singh to approach the high court with the grievance, saying the judges there are aware of the local conditions and the ramifications.

The Chief Justice was irked over "proliferation" of interim applications in pending cases and stressed on the need to understand the role of the Supreme Court.

On being insisted that the matter be heard in the top court itself, the bench said, "Now we cannot entertain everything here to make the Supreme Court dysfunctional."

"We are of the view that it will not be possible to entertain such IAs (interim applications). The intervenor may be heard on substantive issues when the writ petition is listed," the bench said and listed the main case for hearing in December.

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Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.

The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.

On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."

His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.

In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”

Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”

Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.

After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.

“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.

“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”

Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.

Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay. 

Chaotic end to a poor season

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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.

It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.

Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.

Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.