Courts will lean toward animals who are silent victims of commercial ventures: SC
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi postponed the hearing on a batch of petitions filed by owners of hotels and resorts in the Nilgiris to January, saying the matter required detailed scrutiny.
“You are all there for commercial purposes and you are in the elephant corridor. These structures obstruct the movement of elephants… The benefit should go to these animals, who are the silent victims of these commercial developments,” Bench said.
After the Tamil Nadu government notified elephant corridors in the Sigur Plateau in the Nilgiris, hotels and resorts in wildlife areas suffered as they were asked to vacate the forest area.
The Madras High Court on September 12 approved the recommendation of the apex court-appointed bench, which declared that land acquired by private parties in elephant corridors in Sigur Plateau was illegal and these structures should be dismantled.
Earlier, the top court was informed that there are more than 800 constructions in the Sigur elephant corridor, including 39 resorts and 390 houses.
Senior advocates Salman Khurshid and Shoeb Alam, speaking on behalf of different parties, stated that the owners of these hotels and resorts had purchased the properties much before the elephant corridors were notified and should be allowed to continue their “eco-friendly” business with a rider and not expand their business ventures. Alam stated that some issues will come to hearing in January and that it would be appropriate for the court to hear them all together.
The high court postponed the case to the hearing to be held in the first week of January.
