Manjolai must be restored into a pristine forest, orders Madras High Court

Madras High Court orders conversion of commercial plantations into dense forest cover, rejecting continuation of operations at Manjolai estates.

Highlighting the need to increase the dense forest cover in the country from 12% to 33%, the Madras High Court on Tuesday (December 3, 2024) refused to permit the continuation of commercial plantations at Manjolai estates in Tirunelveli district even after Bombay Burmah Trading Corporation Limited (BBTCL), a private lessee since 1929, winds up its operations much before the expiry of the lease in February 2028.

A special Division Bench of Justices N. Sathish Kumar and D. Bharatha Chakravarthy ordered that the State government must remove the commercial plantations such as tea, coffee, cardamom, and pepper from Manjolai, Kakkaachi, Nalumukku, Oothu, and Kuthiraivetti (collectively known as Manjolai estates) and convert the area into a pristine forest with large number of flora and fauna.

“No commercial activities, including eco-tourism, shall be undertaken by the State government so that the entire landscape would be a model to the entire State of Tamil Nadu,” the Division Bench ordered while disposing of a batch of writ petitions. While one set of petitions insisted on letting the plantation workers continue their avocation, another prayed for restoration of the forest cover.

Empathising with the workers who had been working in the hills for generations together but have to suddenly relocate to the plains, the judges wrote: “Dislocation is harsh... But these workmen and their family members should also realise that within our State, there are vast tracts of land in the plains that can be exploited to the benefit of the human race in all possible ways.”

The workmen could always find an alternative place to live and eke out their livelihood through State assisted rehabilitation measures “but as far as the Agasthiyar Biosphere (of which the Manjolai estates were a part) is concerned, this is one of the little tracks of landscape on earth where biodiversity thrives. It is the home for such fauna and flora which cannot exist anywhere else,” the Bench said. 

The court rejected the argument of Puthiya Tamilagam party leader K. Krishnasamy, who was one of the writ petitioners, that the plantation workers would be entitled to the benefit of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act of 2006. Since all the workers were migrants, they would not fall under the definition of ‘traditional forest dwellers,’ the Bench said.

The Bench, however, recorded the submission of Advocate General P.S. Raman that being a welfare State, the government would provide Tamil Nadu Urban Habitat Development Board (TNHUDB) tenements at Reddiarpatti near Tirunelveli city and at Manimuthar in Ambasamudram Taluk to those who had suffered job loss due to the voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) offered by BBTCL.