Ooty: Green activists here in the hills hailed the high court verdict on janman lands in Gudalur near here and appealed for immediate action to take over the lands to convert them into reserve forest area.
Mr.S.Jayachandran, joint secretary of the Tamil Nadu Green Movement, said that the recent high court order cancelling the pattas of some private persons, including corporate companies, on janmam lands, popularly known as section-17 lands in the Gudalur belt, was a landmark judgment that was going to have a big impact on forest conservation. “The janmam lands in Gudalur and Pandalur taluks in Nilgiris, once belonged to the Nilambur kovilagam. The total area is said to have measured upto 1 lakh acres and was known to be forests earlier. Over the years some private companies and private persons converted the forests into plantations and claimed rights over it. The legal battle on this issue which began in 1969 has begun to bear fruit now,” he said.
Though the present verdict pertains to around 1,400 acres on janmam land, it will impact a similar case of a corporate company having plantations over 20,000 acres, for which a legal battle is still on. In total, over 40,000 acres on janmam lands are said to have been encroached over the years, he added. “The TNGM appreciates the Gudalur forest officer Mr. Tejasvi who made extra efforts, the district administration of the Nilgiris and counsel for government who fought till the finish in the present case. The TNGM specially thanks the Tamil Nadu government which showed keen interest in implementing the the Gudalur Janmam Estates (Abolition and conversion into Ryotwari) Act of 1969 which aims at vesting private forests with the state. Government should immediately take over the lands as per the judgment and convert them into reserve forests,” he added.
Mr.Tejaswi, district forest officer, Gudalur said that the forest department would approach the settlement officer to hand over the lands back to the forests as per the judgment.
