The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Monday directed the Tamil Nadu government to enact special legislation within the next couple of months, with prohibitory and penal clauses for eradicating seemai karuvelam ( prosopis juliflora ) trees — an invasive species considered harmful to the environment — from public and private lands alike.
Justices A. Selvam and P. Kalaiyarasan passed the interim order on a public interest litigation (PIL) petition filed by Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) general secretary Vaiko in 2015. The Bench also directed the petitioner to remove seemai karuvelam trees in Sankarankovil Taluk, where his native place Kalingapatti is situated, within 15 days.
It was only last December that the judges began hearing the long-pending petition in earnest. Initially, they directed the Collectors and other Revenue department officials of 13 districts under the territorial jurisdiction of the Madurai Bench to uproot seemai karuvelam trees from public as well as private lands, and report to the court.
During a hearing on February 10, the order to uproot the trees was extended to all districts across the State. The High Court judges themselves began carrying out inspections in various districts, including Madurai, Sivaganga and Pudukkottai, to obtain first-hand information with regard to the implementation of their directive.
“We ultimately found that only 10% of seemai karuvelam trees have been removed so far,” the Bench said.
