Social media to add ammo in fight against seema karuvelam

Advocate commissioners tap Facebook, WhatsApp to monitor eradication of the invasive species

: Tapping technology to solve cases is not new to the Madras High Court Bench here which has heard cases and passed orders even over Skype, a video chat software, on two occasions in the last two years. However, this time, it is not the Bench but the lawyers practising here who have decided to tap the potential of social media such as Facebook and WhatsApp to implement the court’s order to deracinate the ubiquitous seemai karuvelam ( prosopis juliflora ) trees, an invasive species.

Justices A. Selvam and P. Kalaiyarasan had on Tuesday appointed 65 Advocate Commissioners – five for each of the 13 districts under its jurisdiction – and directed its Registry to issue warrants to all of them for inspecting steps taken by the revenue as well as local body officials in those districts to uproot the trees from public as well as private lands. These commissioners have created a WhatsApp group to share information among them and a public group on Facebook to invite complaints.

Titled ‘Eradicate Seemai Karuvelam,’ the public group could be accessed by anyone on Facebook to lodge complaints with regard to the failure of officials in uprooting

seemai karuvelam . It could also be used to monitor work being done by the commissioners. R. Gandhi, one of the Advocate Commissioners in-charge of Madurai district, said that the social media would also be used to create awareness, especially among local resident welfare associations, about the ills of the species and force them to act.

Advocate Commissioner L. Shaji Chellan, in-charge of Kanniyakumari district, had created the Facebook group by posting a video song produced with the support of Juliflora Tree Abolish Movement, a non-governmental organisation; Organic Agriculture Cooperative Bank; and Maavel, a producer of organic food products. The Tamil song composed by Taj Noor, penned by J.V. Karuppasamy and sung by Deepak highlights how

seemai karuvelam harms the soil, groundwater, birds, animals and even insects.

Trees on private land

K. Samidurai, the Advocate Commissioner in-charge of Theni district, said that anyone in the Facebook group could post pictures of

seemai karuvelam trees in any locality that they come across in order to help the advocate commissioners take up the issue with officials concerned for appropriate action. He pointed out that the court had given the authority to government officials to uproot the trees from private lands too and recover double the cost if the land owners do not act on their own.

“All the advocate commissioners have decided to hold meetings with the respective District Judges, who have also been ordered by the High Court to monitor the work, as well as the Collectors and local body officials before embarking on personal inspection of the works being carried out. Some of us have already attended such meetings and decided to begin inspection of the sites by Saturday,” said Advocate Commissioner K. Govindarajan in-charge of Karur district.

In the meantime, advocate commissioners Gandhi, N. Krishnaveni, R. Karunanithi, M. Jerin Mathew and M. Mahaboob Fazil met the Principal District and Sessions Judge here on Thursday. They also participated in a meeting conducted by Collector K. Veera Raghava Rao with officials of Public Works Department, Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department and Highways Department among others on Friday and discussed ways and means to eradicate seemai karuvelam .