Chennai: Madras high court has set aside the rule, by which silver oak trees were included in the class of trees exempted from the purview of the Tamil Nadu Timber Transit Rules.
The first bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice M.M. Sundresh allowed the petition filed by S. Jayachandran, a conservation activist holding the post of joint secretary of Tamil Nadu Green Movement, challenging the validity of the G.O under which silver oak trees were exempted from TN Timber Transit Rules.
After perusing the relevant files extensively, the bench said, “We do not find absolutely any material to show that the secretary to Environment and Forest department has applied his mind on the impact of ecology, water preservation, indiscriminate cutting of trees, protection of green cover, improvement of soil health by addition of organic matter apart from protection against excessive sunlight.”
The bench had asked the additional advocate general to produce data about the positive impact of the impugned rule, if any. No data was produced to show that the exemption given through the amendment made, the green cover has increased by the introduction of fresh plantation of oak trees”.
“We are surprised to note that in Salem district, there is no positive indication of coffee and tea plantation, in which silver oak trees are normally found. Therefore, the materials produced are totally either irrelevant or insufficient.
The statistics do not deal with the extent of actual plantation as against the trees cut. If we are to understand that as silver oak trees are situated in between plantations, there is also non-application of mind about the time period that would require for a silver oak sapling to beco-me a matured one. In other words, a mere planting of a sapling cannot be equated with a matured one. The government order also does not deal with this aspect”, the bench added.
