A day after Justice A. Selvam, the administrative judge of the High Court Bench here, expressed displeasure over Madurai Corporation and district administration not showing much progress in implementing the court’s order to weed out the harmful Seemai karuvelam ( Prosopis juliflora ) trees, officials sprung into action to uproot the invasive species from lands around the court campus.
Mr. Justice Selvam, who had ordered removal of the trees along with Justice P. Kalaiyarasan, had expressed his anguish over officials not having removed even the trees that were popping into the court campus from private lands situated around it. He pointed out to a Special Government Pleader that snakes and other reptiles were entering the backyard, where the judges’ bungalows were situated, due to those trees.
In the meantime, the court appointed Advocate Commissioners R. Gandhi, N. Krishnaveni, R. Karunanithi, M. Jerin Mathew and M. Mahaboob Fazil, who were entrusted with the responsibility of monitoring the implementation of the court order in Madurai district, have impressed upon the need for the district administration to fix responsibility on individual officers with respect to removal of the trees in different localities and also spell out the source from which funds should be drawn for the work.
They have pointed out that the Thoothukudi Collector had issued directions by entrusting the uprooting work to different officials for every taluk and the source from which the funds could be drawn for carrying out the work. The telephone numbers of the officials were given so that public could contact them to share information about the need to uproot the trees from particular localities falling within their jurisdiction.
Similarly, the commissioners have also suggested that the Madurai district administration could also issue tender notifications as it had been done in Ramanathapuram and Sivaganga districts to remove the seemai karuvelam trees that had grown on waterbodies under the control of Public Works Department.
