Madras High Court: Form special panel to develop Kalvarayan tribals

Based on the plea, the court earlier appointed an advocate commission, comprising advocates T. Mohan, V. Suresh and Anirudh Krishnan, to file a status report on the conditions of the tribals in the hills of Salem and Villupuram. When the petition came up for hearing before the first bench, comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice T.S. Sivagnanam, the advocates filed a report on Monday.

Appreciating the assistance rendered by the advocates, the bench said, “It is interesting to note from the epilogue of the report that classifies the tribals for their special skills as soundless woodcutters, especially in cutting red sanders.”The committee pointed out that it appears that out of the 20 people recently shot dead in Andhra Pradesh for allegedly involving in red sanders smuggling, 12 belonged to the area. The bench stated that a suggestion was made to utilise the special skills in a development process rather than let red sanders smugglers use them.

The committee suggested that considering the complexity of the problem, a high-level multi-departmental committee was required to address the problems. Referring to the suggestion, the bench directed the chief secretary to constitute an appropriate committee. The chief secretary may also explore the possibility of including somebody from the local community. The advocate commissioners may be associated with the committee, the bench recommended.