The Madras High Court has come down heavily on the then Nilgiris District Collector for initially recommending exemption of land belonging to a private individual in the hilly district from the Elephant Corridor notified by the Tamil Nadu government in 2010.
"This court is of the view that the District Collector of Nilgiri has acted in a vested manner for the reason best known to him," Justice D Krishnakumar said in a recent order dismissing a petition by the land owner.
After the state government in August 2015 rejected his December 29, 2014 recommendation, the Collector had ultimately passed an order turning down the representation by petitioner Pushpabal Mangalchand Vaid of Udhagamandalam seeking exemption of his property from the corridor.
Challenging the collector's order, the petitioner moved the high court.
Taking a serious view of the Collector's action, the Judge said he had made the original recommendation for exempting 22.85 acres of land in Masinagudi village despite being aware of a court-appointed expert committees report and some special leave petitions related to the corridor pending in the Supreme Court.
The recommendation made by the District Collector to the government without taking note of the report of the high-level committee "is highly impermissible, improper and without any justification", the judge said.
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The court could not understand as to why the Collector, being the party to the proceedings in the earlier writ petitions and aware of the fact that a batch of SLPs were pending before the Supreme Court, had recommended for excluding the land of the petitioner, he said.
In all fairness, he should have directed the petitioner to approach the state Forest and Environment Secretary, Justice Krishnakumar said.
The Collector had acted in a vested manner for the reason best known to him. No prima facie case had been made to entertain the petition, he said dismissing the petition.
The matter related to the August, 31 2010 state Government Order (G.O) notifiying the corridor for a safe and undisturbed passage of elephants so that their genetic dispersal could be ensured for long survival.
The G.O. was issued based on the report of an expert committee comprising top forest department officials set up by the high court on a petition by advocate Elephant Rajendran for an elephant corridor without any encroachment and any other disturbances.
After examining the report and all objections, the G.O was issued wherein the lands which fall within the boundary of Elephant Corridor were identified by notifying the survey numbers of lands, including the petitioner's land.
Challenging the G.O, some land owners have filed special leave petitions in the Supreme Court.
Vaid, in his representation, had prayed the Collector to exempt his land contending that it was located at an elevation of 1,000 metre from the elephant corridor and did not find place in the cadastral map.
Acting on it, the the collector on December 29, 2014 sent a recommendation to the government for amending the earlier G.O. so as to delete the survey numbers of land of the petitioner from the notification.
However, the government had rejected the recommendation.