Symbolic image. File | Image credit: The Hindu
A group of private resort owners has approached the Madras High Court challenging the orders passed against them by the Supreme Court-appointed Segur Plateau Elephant Corridor Inquiry Committee (SPECIC) headed by retired Supreme Court Judge K. Venkataraman on August 21, 2023.
Their seven petitions are scheduled for hearing before Acting Chief Justice D. Krishnakumar and Justice PB Balaji on Tuesday. The SPECIC had declared the purchase of the land by the resort owners null and void after the land was declared as private forests in 1991.
Plaintiffs before the Supreme Court in the current second round of litigation relating to the Elephant Corridor resorts included Jungle Retreat, Forest Hills Farms and Guest House, Gordon Jungle Properties, Jungle Hut, De Rock Jungle Living and Rolling Stones Resort.
In an affidavit on behalf of Jungle Retreat, its owner Rohan Mathias said that he acquired vacant patta land in Bokkapuram area of Masinagudi in Nilgiris district in 1996 and started the homestay/resort after obtaining all necessary permissions from the concerned authorities.
Meanwhile, on November 1, 1991, the Nilgiris Collector had declared a huge tract of land measuring 1.92 lakh acres in Udhagamandalam, Sholur and Gudalur taluks as private forest, so that any sale or development on these lands required prior approval from a district committee.
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However, due to the massive resistance of the residents against such an announcement, the state government issued a press release on November 22, 1991, clarifying that there were no restrictions on the purchase and sale of these properties, the witness claimed.
He said that even in 2023, the district committee constituted under the Tamil Nadu Preservation of Private Forests Act (TNPPFA), 1949, had admitted that the Act was effectively implemented only in 2009, which had led to the sale of large tracts of land since 1991.
Furthermore, the Hospitality Association of Mudumalai (HAM), of which the witness was a founding member, challenged the validity of the 1991 notification before the Supreme Court in 2016 and obtained an interim order on April 25, 2018, maintaining the legal position, subject to any contrary orders of the Supreme Court.
Apart from these proceedings, HAM had separately filed an appeal before the Supreme Court in 2011, challenging a decision of the High Court in a writ petition filed in 2008. This decision had led to the issuance of a government order on 31 August 2010 declaring the Segur Plateau an Elephant Corridor.
After nine long years, the Supreme Court on October 14, 2020, dismissed the appeal and upheld the power of the State Government to issue the GO of 2010. However, it constituted the SPECIC headed by Mr. Venkataraman to examine the grievances of those whose immovable properties would be affected.
The powers of the SPECIC to decide on the alleged arbitrary deviation in the area of the Elephant Corridor under the GO of 2010 were very limited, but it was a matter of deciding on the property rights of the resort owners to their lands located along the notified corridor, the petitioners complained.
Although SPECIC was made aware that HAM’s 2016 writ petition challenging the 1991 notification is still pending before the Supreme Court, the committee concluded that the Supreme Court’s 2018 interim order on status quo has been merged with the Supreme Court’s 2020 order, it said.
The applicants alleged that SPECIC erred in reaching this conclusion and that the company lacked the authority to determine that the purchase of the land without the approval of the District Committee of the TNPPFA after 1991 should be considered null and void.
