The first bench of Madras High Court on Tuesday stated that it would not order the Erode district collector to withdraw his notifications prohibiting motor vehicle movement on the Bannari-Karapallam stretch of the Coimbatore-Bengaluru national highway that runs through the Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve (STR) at night.
The panel of Chief Justice M N Bhandari and Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy said that no order prohibiting vehicular movement on the stretch had been issued. However, it had simply instructed the Erode Collector to strictly implement his notices issued in 2018 and 2019, which were not implemented due to public outcry at the time.
The bench had asked the authorities involved to severely implement the notices issued by the Erode Collector from February 10 after issuing directions on a PIL plea filed by city-based counsel SP Chockalingam last week. It also chastised employees from the relevant government ministries for omissions and delays in implementing the Collector’s previous notifications.
Last Monday, when the Collector carried out his instructions, there were widespread complaints from the public and traders. Vehicles were piled up on both sides, causing traffic gridlock.
Former MLA PL Sundaram, a Panampalli resident in Sathyamangalam, filed a plea to overturn the restriction. He said that critical items could not be transported to the 144 communities along the length and that kids in these villages had to travel 4 kilometres to attend their schools. The restriction should not take effect until an alternate path is provided, he stressed.
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Speed breakers and rumblers might be put at regular intervals to prevent accidents, and vehicle speeds could be monitored. He also disputed the assertion that a huge number of wild animals were killed in traffic accidents along the route. He told the court that only 24 animals had been killed in the previous ten years, citing Forest Department figures. Even the fact that they were run over by motor vehicles was not confirmed.
J Ravindran, Additional Advocate-General, appealed to the bench to ease the limits. After ordering the authorities to submit their counters for the new PIL, the court postponed the case for a week.
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