Last year, the Supreme Court had set up a panel to study environmental and ecological concerns in “overcrowded” hill stations across Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and other Himalayan states. Now, the Madras High Court has acted on overcrowding in the Nilgiris which could set a precedent
The Madras High Court has directed the district collector of the Nilgiris to ensure traffic management for the current season, particularly considering the stopping of tourist vehicles entering via the Kalhatty Ghat Road in the Nilgiris. A division bench of Justices N Sathish Kumar and D Bharatha Chakravarthy heard a matter relating to fixation of carrying capacity in respect of the Nilgiris and Dindigul districts. The carrying capacity is the maximum population size that an eco-system can carry without its degeneration.
On April 22, the High Court had recorded that the government had roped in two institutions—Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai, and Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore—to take up the study for fixing carrying capacity in the hill stations in the Nilgiris district as well as Kodaikanal in Dindigul district. On April 29, a status report was filed by the government.
The district collectors of the Nilgiris and Dindigul districts were present in Court through virtual mode. After hearing their views and perusing the status report, the Court noted that a whopping 20,011 vehicles enter the Nilgiris every day, which includes 11,509 cars, 1,341 vans, 637 buses and 6,524 two-wheelers on an average during the peak season.
The Court also noted that the situation is alarming and there is absolutely no place even for the movement of traffic and it is affecting everyone—the residents, tourists, visitors, etc., without exception. It further observed that:
(i) The local residents cannot move even for their regular livelihood activities, including medical emergency, and their right to life is affected;
(ii) the tourists also cannot reach their destinations and it spoils their very experience;
(iii) the environment is the worst affected.
“The roads are carrying beyond their capacity. It can also be seen that all these routes are meddling/ interfering with the elephant corridors. And in view of traffic jams, vehicles are stranded in the roads cutting across forests, the animals are worst affected. It causes irreparable damage to the environment,” the bench observed. Therefore, the Court ordered that while the study is being undertaken, the entry of vehicles entering the hill stations for the current year can be regulated, without any restriction on the number of vehicles, by issuing e-passes.
Regulating the entry through e-passes was already in vogue during the Covid-19 pandemic in Tamil Nadu. However, at that point of time, the entry of vehicles was permitted only if there was a reasonable cause shown. Now, entry passes can be issued after due filling in of a form with relevant information such has:
(i) the nature/type of the vehicle—whether it is a car, van, bus or two;
(ii) whether the entry is for tourist or other purposes;
(iii) whether it is day trip or a stay;
(iv) the number of persons travelling;
(v) and other relevant particulars.
A system that is user-friendly can be developed. Tourists or any other person visiting the Nilgiris or Kodaikanal, as the case may be, will fill in the form and an auto-generated e-pass can be issued. It can also be doubled up by linking payment gateway portal in respect of green tax or toll charge, if possible. That would also save further time and there need not be bottlenecks at the checkposts.
The Court added that the e-passes can also contain important information, such as ban on one-time use of plastic products like water bottles, polythene bags, etc., and also such other instructions for the tourists so that the solid wastes are properly disposed and managed. Therefore, without imposing any restriction and by regulating the movement, initially as a temporary measure/pilot basis, the entire system can be made more efficient and improved besides providing the much-needed valuable data for the study which is going to be undertaken by the Tamil Nadu government.
The Court further observed that district collectors have such powers under Section 115 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, which empowers them, being regional transport authorities, to restrict or regulate the entry of vehicles. More importantly, the Court passed the order with the purpose of saving the entire Nilgiris’ biosphere and protecting the Western Ghats which is a more serious issue.
The High Court noted that human beings alone cannot exist on earth without biodiversity. While the large and entire landscape is available to the human beings, a variety of flora and fauna find their existence only in these hill areas and environmentally important zones. “Therefore, it is critical to preserve these pristine places more in the interest of human beings as such,” the Court said.
It was also brought to the notice of the Court that this year due to extreme drought conditions even providing adequate drinking water to the local residents has become a challenge. The shortage is acute. For all these reasons, the Court directed the district collector, the Nilgiris, as well as the district collector, Dindigul, as under:
(i) they shall develop a system/online form so as to enable all the vehicles visiting the Nilgiris or Kodaikanal, as the case may be, to fill in the particulars and generate an e-pass and permit only such vehicles which have e-passes;
(ii) the possession of e-passes can be properly checked at the entry points without fail;
(iii) such a system can be developed and implemented with effect from May 7, 2024, and shall be in vogue on a pilot/test basis up to June 30, 2024.
(iv) adequate publicity shall be made for the said system, informing the general public on the website/mobile app which are going to be developed;
(v) advertisements can be issued nationwide and more specifically in the regional newspapers of the neighbouring states: Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh;
(vi) the authorities can exempt the vehicles of local residents, commercial vehicles regularly carrying essential commodities and also vehicles carrying agricultural products by issuing an appropriate notification;
(vii) the e-passes either have to be valid for one entry, or if it is for multiple entries, there must be a provision regarding multiple entries/trips for the same vehicles;
(viii) while developing appropriate software/online form, the authorities can include such other criteria which may be necessary for the purpose of the study and or for any other purpose;
(ix) the experts engaged by the state government and the amicus curiae in the matter can also send their views to the district collectors intimating as to any particular or facts which need to be included in the forms, etc., and the same can also be considered and included;
(x) the appropriate authorities/departments of the government are directed to render their assistance to the district administration of the Nilgiris as well as Dindigul districts for developing the software/website, mobile app and online application for issuing e-passes.
Further, the Court directed that the district collector of the Nilgiris shall also ensure the traffic management for the current season, particularly considering the stopping of tourist vehicles entering via Kalhatty Ghat Road because it is stated to be one of the primary reasons for traffic congestion as well as detrimental to the environment. The district collector of the Nilgiris shall, however, exempt the vehicles of local residents. From the status report, which is filed on behalf of the solid waste management units, the Court noted that no specific data with regard to the glass bottles, etc., are available. The status report only generally points out the waste which is sent to cement factories, saleable waste, e-waste hazardous waste, etc.
In August last year, the Supreme Court had decided to set up a panel to study environmental and ecological concerns in “overcrowded” hill stations across Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and other Himalayan states. In the matter, the Union had urged the Supreme Court to direct 13 Himalayan states of the country to assess their carrying capacity and proposed the setting up of an expert panel to evaluate the action plans submitted by each of them.
—By Shivam Sharma and India Legal Bureau