People In Mainland Enjoying High Tech Facilities, Tribals In Kalvarayan Hills Deserve At Least Basic Amenities: Madras High Court Remarks

The Madras High Court on Thursday orally remarked that when people living in the mainland are enjoying hi-tech facilities, the people belonging to scheduled caste and scheduled tribe communities, living in the Kalvarayan Hills should be getting at least the basic amenities for leading a decent life. The bench of Justice SM Subramaniam and Justice N Mala was hearing a suo motu writ petition taken up by the court in the aftermath of the Kallakurichi illicit arrack tragedy which took the lives of many. The court had taken up the suo motu writ petition after noting that the people living in the Kalvarayan Hills were often forced to engage in the business of illicit arrack as they did not have any other means of livelihood. In the previous hearing, the court had directed the authorities to arrange a special camp for the purpose of issuing Aadhar Card, Ration Card, Voter ID card etc to the people in the area, allowing them to avail the government welfare benefits. When the matter was taken up today, the counsel informed the court that it needed more time to process the applications and thus sought an additional period of 3 months. The court, however, was not willing to grant such a long time and orally remarked that the same would be 'unfair'. The court asked the counsel if the State could allot officers to complete the work in a time-bound manner. It directed the officials to process the applications as expeditiously as possible, within a period of 4 weeks and to file a compliance report by the next hearing. The court also orally remarked that it expected the authorities to file a concrete report by the next hearing, failing which the court would be forced to summon the Chief Secretary. “You'll have to give a concrete report next time. If you're not even doing the minimum, we'll be forced to summon the chief secretary. It's their basic constitutional right. They should get it. You can't just keep on saying you're receiving applications, processing applications etc. Something needs to be done,” the court orally remarked. The special public prosecutor also informed the court that funds were yet to be allocated for laying roads in the villages in Kalvarayan Hills. The court thus directed the authorities to ensure that the proposal submitted by the Principal Secretary of the concerned Department is scrutinized and necessary actions are taken to ensure that the roads are laid down, allowing the villagers to travel to schools, hospitals etc and avail basic facilities. When the amicus informed the court that there were no adequate bus facilities in the area and people had a hard time traveling to places, the bench wanted to know the details of bus services plying on the route. However, on not being satisfied with the reply of the Special Prosecutor, the bench decided to order the Managing Director of Tamil Nadu Transport Corporation to appear before it. The court thus asked the special public prosecutor to make sure that the Managing Director of Corporation in Villupuram and Salem appear before it on Friday (20th September) either in person or through video conferencing and inform the court about the number of buses plying on the route and how many mini buses could be provided. The court thus adjourned the case to Friday for the appearance of the Managing Directors. Case Title: Suo Motu Writ Petition v Chief Secretary and Others Case No: WP 19030 of 2024

People In Mainland Enjoying High Tech Facilities, Tribals In Kalvarayan Hills Deserve At Least Basic Amenities: Madras High Court Remarks

Upasana Sajeev

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