NEW DELHI: Describing elephants as “key species” to the survival of India’s forests and other animals, on Wednesday the Supreme Court agreed with the Madras High Court and ordered the eviction of 39 resorts in the Mudumalai Reserve Forest Area falling into the elephant runner. The resorts, which are home to 309 buildings, hampered the nomadic lifestyle intrinsic to the survival of the pachyderms.
A bench of Chief Justice SA Bobde and Justices S Abdul Nazeer and Sanjiv Khanna defended the Tamil nadu government order of January 1, 2010, which identifies the elephant corridors in the Sigur plateau connecting forests in the west and Eastern ghats, which support elephant populations and their genetic diversity.
In drafting the sentence, Judge Nazeer said: “The precautionary principle obliges the state government to anticipate, prevent and attack the causes of environmental degradation … we do not hesitate to uphold this to protect the elephant population in Sigur Plateau, it was necessary and appropriate that it limit commercial activity in the areas that fall within the elephant corridor. ”
The bank noted a variation in the areas that would be cleared from encroachment to provide unobstructed passage for migrating elephants and appointed a three-member committee to identify areas to secure the corridors.
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