The Madras High Court on Monday granted time till Thursday for the Centre to disclose the money available under the national fund of Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) so that it could be used for relocating the inhabitants of 500 acres of forest land in Thengumarahada village in Kothagiri Taluk of the Nilgiris district.
Justices N. Sathish Kumar and D. Bharatha Chakravarthy asked Additional Solicitor General AR.L. Sundaresan to obtain the details by Thursday since Inspector General of Forests R. Raghu Prasad, serving under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, told the court the details regarding the CAMPA funds were not available with him immediately.
When the judges wanted to know why couldn’t the National Tiger Conservation Authority allocate ₹74 crore required by the State government to compensate the inhabitants of Thengumarahada, the central officers told the court the issue would be discussed by the executive committee and governing body of CAMPA and a decision would be taken depending upon availability of funds.
