SC asks Tamil Nadu govt to act against, fine 118 babus for forest encroachments

NEW DELHI: Seeking to protect the biodiversity hotspot in Agasthyamalai landscape from depredation through illegal settlements, Supreme Court has ordered Tamil Nadu govt to prepare within a month a comprehensive time-bound action plan to evict thousands of encroachers, some of whom have been settled there for decades.

Warning that failure to ensure compliance would invite administrative accountability at the highest level, the bench also asked TN govt to initiate disciplinary and legal action against 118 identified govt servants who have encroached on forest lands. The state govt may impose additional penalties on them and require them to deposit appropriate environment restitution and restoration charges with Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority, it said.

‘Hollow promises’: SC pulls up TN over forest encroachments
Agasthyamalai landscape covers 3,500 sq km spread over TN and Kerala and has Kanyakumari Wildlife Sanctuary, Kalakad-Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve, Srivilliputhur-Megamalai Tiger Reserve and Periyar Tiger Reserve, which are home to the tiger, elephant, leopard, Indian gaur, sloth bear, Nilgiri langur, great Indian hornbill and numerous other endangered species.

A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta said the encroachments have persisted and proliferated because TN govt’s efforts remained “in the realm of hollow promises” and “significantly below the threshold of response that the gravity and urgency of the situation demand”.

Posting the matter for further hearing on Aug 28, it said that though the task is onerous and involves considerable administrative, logistical and humanitarian complexity, “the court is equally of the view that the obligation to protect ecologically sensitive regions cannot stand indefinitely deferred on account of such challenges”.

As for implementation on priority basis of “time-bound, division-wise encroachment eviction plan”, SC said that in case the state govt failed to remove the encroachments, the Central Empowered Committee may recommend deployment of paramilitary forces to assist in the exercise.

To disincentivise illegal settlements on forest land, SC ordered a blanket moratorium on extension of welfare schemes, public utilities, transport facilities, electricity supply and infrastructure support within encroached forest areas.

“All govt establishments, facilities, and unauthorised infrastructure situated within forest areas, including within SMTR, shall be discontinued, relocated, dismantled and removed from forest land within a period of six months,” it said. “All illegal resorts, commercial establishments operating within the Megamalai area and other forest lands shall be made non-operational forthwith and dismantled in accordance with law and by ensuring minimum disruption to the forest area,” it ordered.