The Madras High Court on Monday summoned the Environment, Climate Change and Forests Secretary Supriya Sahu to the court on February 28 to explain steps taken by the government to implement a 2015 court order to annihilate exotic species such as wattle and eucalyptus and instead restore the shola forests (patches of stunted evergreen moist broad leaf forests) in Kodaikanal, Palani, the Nilgiris and the entire Western Ghats in the State.
Justices V. Bharathidasan and N. Sathish Kumar expressed anguish over the government having done very little to protect the environment and the forests despite several orders passed by the court in this regard in the last few years. “We are really fed up with your attitude. Unless the Secretary comes up with a positive response on February 28, we would be constrained to make adverse remarks against the government,” Justice Kumar cautioned.
The judges pointed out a Division Bench of Justices R. Sudhakar (who got elevated as Chief Justice of Manipur High Court and retired from service in February 2021) and V.M. Velumani had taken painstaking efforts to pen an elaborate judgement in 2015 highlighting how the exotic and invasive species had invaded the marshes, shola forests and grasslands on the western ghats and destroyed the natural forests.
“Yet, nothing appears to have been done in the last seven years. You claim that this is the numero uno State in the country and that we are the first in all parameters. Are you committed to saving forests or not? All court orders appear to remain only in paper, no difference is being shown on the ground,” Justice Kumar told Additional Advocate General J. Ravindran and asked him to ensure that the Secretary appears through video conference on February 28.
Pointing out that protection of environment was a serious concern, the judges said issues such as letting forest officials serve in the same workplace for decades together thereby leading to familiarity and possibility of corruption was also yet another issue that the government must concentrate on to prevent forest offences and prosecute those involved in poaching and felling of trees illegally.
The judges also took serious note of a complaint made by advocate R. Alagumani that the government had formed Tamil Nadu Wildlife Crime Control Bureau but had not provided sufficient infrastructure and deployed enough manpower for it to function effectively. The lawyer also claimed that many forest officials were serving in Meghamalai for over 15 years though, as per rules, they must get transferred every three years.
