The Madras High Court has directed the Tamil Nadu government to ensure that voluntary organisations seeking permission to remove invasive karuvelam (seemai karuvelam) trees from government lands are granted approval within 24 hours.
The order came during the hearing of petitions filed by MDMK general secretary Vaiko and others seeking implementation of directions to remove the trees across the state. Vaiko told the court he had joined farmers and environmental activists to remove karuvelam trees in several places, including Andipatti in Theni district, and claimed his lungs were affected due to exposure to gas released from the trees.
He also alleged that in some areas revenue officials were opposing the removal work and that no effective steps had been taken to implement earlier court directions even after a change in government. He sought instructions to all district collectors and a time-bound approval process for those applying to remove the trees.
Appearing for the state, Additional Advocate General P. Saravanan said around 90% of karuvelam trees on government lands in Pudukkottai district had been removed, while progress in northern districts had been slow. The judges expressed dissatisfaction that no meeting had been held between departmental secretaries and the court-appointed judges tasked with studying the issue.
The bench appointed the Revenue Department Secretary as the nodal officer to implement the directions and asked the officer to appear in person on July 31 to provide necessary inputs. The court also said the state should allocate required funds and instructed revenue officials to grant permissions to NGOs within 24 hours, while urging volunteers to participate in removal efforts.
