Listen to this articleHospitality Association
of Mudumalai v. In defence of Environment and animals & Ors.
Civil Appeal No. 3437 of 2020 decided on 14.10.2020
Bench: S. A Bodbe, S. Abdul Nazeer, Sanjiv
Khanna, JJ.
Facts:
The
Tamil Nadu government had released a notification declaring an ‘Elephant
Corridor’ in the Sigur Plateau of Nilgiris District. The validity of this
notification was challenged by the owners of the guest houses/ resorts/ lands
in and around the Nilgiris Forest Area and also by the Hospitality Association of
Mudumalai.
The
present appeal has been filed against the Madras High Court judgement that had
upheld the validity of the Tamil Nadu Government Notification which notified
the ‘Elephant Corridor’ and directed the resort owners and other landowners to
vacate and hand over the vacant possession of the lands falling within the
elephant corridor to the District Collector of Nilgiris.
Issue: Does the State Government have
statutory power for creating/ recognition of new corridors?
Held: The court held
that the State Government is empowered to take measures to protect forests and
wildlife falling within its territory in light of Entries 17A ‘Forest’ and 17B
‘Protection of wild animals and birds’ in the concurrent list and the power of
the State Government under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 to notify
sanctuaries and other protected areas. State Government was empowered to
protect the habitats situated on the appellants’ land by notifying an elephant
corridor thereupon. In order to protect the elephant population in the Sigur
Plateau region, it was necessary and appropriate for the State Government to
limit commercial activity in the areas falling within the elephant corridor.
The
court held that the ‘Precautionary Principle’ has been accepted as a part of
the law of our land. The Precautionary Principle makes it mandatory for the
State Government to anticipate, prevent and attack the causes of environmental
degradation.
·
Court noted that the legal intervention in
the preservation of these corridors has been necessitated because wildlife
corridors are threatened by various social, economic and anthropogenic factors.
Commercial activities such as running of private resorts and construction of
new buildings with barbed and electric fences within elephant corridors pose a
serious threat of fragmentation and destruction of habitats.
It
was observed that, the corridor in the Sigur plateau of Tamil Nadu connects the
Western and the Eastern Ghats and sustains elephant populations and their
genetic diversity. Depending on the season, the elephants migrate in search of
food and water and during the course of their migration, they have to cross the
Sigur plateau. This migratory path is considered to be very crucial as it
connects several forests areas which form the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve.
·
The court appointed a 3 member committee
which is to be headed by Former Madras High Court Judge Justice K. Venkatraman,
to hear the objections of land/resort owners and to inquire into allegations of
arbitrary variance in the acreage of the elephant corridor.