Elephant Corridor: Supreme Court Allows Transfer Of Nilgiris District Collector

The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Tamil Nadu government to allow the incumbent Collector of Nilgiris district J. Innocent Divya to be transferred from her current posting as per her request.

The Court vide its judgment dated October 14, 2020 had upheld the Madras High Court judgment that had declared the validity of the Tamil Nadu Government notification dated August 31, 2010 which had notified an 'Elephant Corridor' in the Sigur Plateau of Nilgiris District and had further directed resort owners and other private land owners to vacate and hand over the vacant possession of the lands falling within the notified elephant corridor to the District Collector, Nilgiris within three months from the date of the judgment.

The bench comprising former Chief Justice of India SA Bobde, Justices S. Abdul Nazeer and Sanjiv Khanna had further appointed a 3 member committee headed by Former Madras High Court judge Justice K. Venkatraman to conduct an inquiry into allegations of arbitrary variance in acreage of the elephant corridor and also the purported actions of the District Collector.

"We appoint a 3-member Inquiry Committee consisting of: (i) Hon'ble Mr. Justice K. Venkatraman, Former Judge of the Madras High Court (Chairman); (ii) Mr. Ajay Desai, Consultant to World Wide Fund for Nature-India and Member of the Technical Committee to come up with a National Elephant Action Plan (NEAP), constituted by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MOEF&CC); and (iii) Mr. Praveen Bhargava, Trustee of Wildlife First and Former Member of National Board for Wildlife to decide the individual objections of the appellants and any other persons claiming to be aggrieved by the actions of the District Collector, Nilgiris pursuant to the impugned G.O. and as recorded before us through her Plan of Action Report and her twin Action Taken Reports, as also the allegations regarding arbitrary variance in acreage of the elephant corridor under the impugned G.O", the order dated October 14, 2020 had stated.

A Bench comprising Justices S Abdul Nazeer and Krishna Murai on Tuesday however granted leave to the Court-appointed inquiry committee to summon the District Collector as and when required.

"Liberty is reserved to the Committee to summon her as and when her assistance is required by the Committee", the Bench directed. The Bench further directed the District Collector to cooperate with the Committee and accordingly ordered the Tamil Nadu government to transfer her forewith.

During the proceedings, Senior Advocate Dushyant Dave appearing for the District Collector prayed before the Bench to permit the Collector to be transferred as per her request. He apprised the Bench that a detailed report had been submitted by her to the inquiry Committee. He further stated that if the Committee requires her assistance, it can call for her assistance in due course of time. 

Agreeing with such a contention, the Bench noted that the District Collector had already served 4 years in her current posting. 

However, challenging her transfer, amicus curiae advocate A.D.N Rao submitted before the Bench that the transfer of the District Collector might lead to 'de-sealing' of illegal resorts that had been constructed in the notified elephant corridor contrary to the aforementioned Supreme Court judgment. He further stated that the government was trying to de-seal the properties that had been previously closed down by the District Collector. 

It may be noted that according to media reports, the Chairman of the Inquiry Committee Justice K. Venkatraman has recently written to the Housing and Urban Development Department Secretary, Hitesh Kumar S. Makwana questioning orders he had passed urging the district collector to de-seal one of the illegal resorts that had been sealed in the notified elephant corridor. 

However, the Bench did not agree with such a submission and accordingly questioned, "How will continuation of one officer affect sealing and de-sealing of properties? How do you suppose that some other officer will not do the work more successfully?"

The amicus curiae further stated, "If she is posted at a far off place, the proceedings of the Committee might be hampered."

The Bench again quizzed advocate Rao, "God forbid, if something untoward were to happen to the District Collector, what will happen?". To this, the counsel responded, "The elephant corridor will go."

Refusing to agree with such a submission, the Bench allowed for the transfer of the District Collector. 

Case Title: A. Rangarajan v. Union of India, Ministry of Environment and Forest and Ors|W.P.(C) No. 897/1996

Click Here To Read/Download The Order