Madras High Court orders Central government to relocate all residents of village lying within Mudumalai Tiger Reserve

The Madras High Court recently directed the Central government to release funds to relocate all 495 residents of the Thengumarahada village in Tamil Nadu (TN) as the village falls within the protected area of the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve..In an order passed in August 8, a special forest bench comprising of Justices N Satish Kumar and D Bharatha Chakravarthy said that the government has "primordial statutory duty" to protect all species, and that non-availability of funds cannot come in the way of performing such duty.The Court, therefore, directed the Union government's Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) to release funds to the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) within the next fwo months for relocating all the residents of the village. .The bench said the NTCA will in turn give the funds it receives to the TN Principal Chief Conservator of Forests for the relocation work. The order was passed after the Court noted that while the Tamil Nadu forest department authorities had proposed to relocate the inhabitants of Thengumarahada in 2011, the same had not been implemented yet because the NTCA had no funds. .As per the TN government, the relocation will cost a little over rupees 70 crore. But the NTCA told the Court that the little money it had was merely to cover recurring expenses and to pay salaries to members. The NTCA suggested that the Tamil Nadu government's Afforestation Authority, and CAMPA be impleaded as parties since the relocation work was urgent owing to the imminent dangers of man-animal conflict..When the Court called upon the State and the Central government, the TN government said that since the State of Tamil Nadu was very conservative when it came to allowing use of forest land for other purposes, its share in the compensatory afforestation fund was "extremely low.".On the other hand, CAMPA told the Court that while it had around ₹8.15 crore available, the said fund can be utilised only on specific schemes approved by the governing body of the National Authority. .The Court accepted the submission but said that that the relocation of the families out of the Tiger Reserve areas was very crucial as it involved the issue of safety of both the villagers and the Tigers and other flora and fauna of the Tiger Reserve. It also said that the Supreme Court had made it clear that the right to life guaranteed by Article 21 of the Constitution applies to all species, and the Union government was bound to protect such right. ."Thus it can be seen that when a primordial statutory duty is cast upon the respondents especially when the same is pursuant to the Directive Principles of State Policy, non availability of funds cannot be an excuse. The Compensatory Afforestation Fund itself was constituted by an Act of Parliament, pursuant to the Judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India, dated 30.10.2022 in TN Godavarman Thirumulpad Vs. Union of India and Others, wherein it has been categorically held that “to protect and improve the environment is a constitutional mandate, it is a commitment for a country wedded to the ideas of a welfare State”. Therefore, the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Act, 2016 under which, the National and States are constituted lieu no manner of doubt that the funds available in the National CAMPA Authority can be used for this purpose," the Court said..[Read Order]