From Friday, commercial vehicle movement through the Satyamangalam Tiger Reserve (STR) in Tamil Nadu will be prohibited between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. and between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. for other vehicles.
The regulation was issued in response to an order issued by a division bench of the Madras High Court, comprised of Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Justice D. Bhartha Chakravarthy, directing the state forest department to implement the travel restriction notification issued by the Erode district collector in 2019.
The Madras High Court stepped into the matter after a PIL filed by advocate S.P. Chockalingam looking for the intervention of the court on the “serious lapses” on the part of forest officials in implementing the notification issued by the Erode district collector on January 7, 2019.
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The petitioner claimed that vehicular traffic through the Tiger Reserve was killing several animals and that animals usually cross the road at night. He also cited the significant decrease in animal deaths caused by accidents in the Gudalur sector following the implementation of a night-time vehicular traffic ban.
The Erode district collector had in his notice of January 7, 2019, banned the travel of commercial vehicles from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. and other vehicles from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. through the Bannari- Karappalam stretch proceeding through the STR.
The first bench of the Madras High Court urged the Special pleader of the Tamil Nadu Forest Department to clarify why the district collector’s notification was not implemented even after it was administered under Section 115 of the Motor Vehicles Act.
The court ordered that the ban would come into effect on February 10 and that if anyone violates the court’s order, the authorities must identify the violators and provide their names and other information so that appropriate action can be taken.
The court also ordered the authorities to send the names and contact information of the officials who failed to implement the notification.
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