The Supreme Court has drawn a hard line on the creeping erasure of Tamil Nadu’s Agasthyamalai landscape, ordering a sweeping investigation into illegal encroachments and violations of forest and wildlife laws. In a case that bridges environmental urgency with long-standing human displacement, the Court has tasked the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) with surveying the entire forested region—including tiger reserves, elephant corridors, and wildlife sanctuaries—and delivering a report within twelve weeks.
The order didn’t come in a vacuum. The Court made it clear: forests are not scenery—they are survival. “Forests form the lungs of the ecosystem,” the bench remarked, calling out the deadly domino effect of climate change, unregulated urban sprawl, and industrial expansion that has thinned India’s green cover. By contrast, countries like Bhutan and Nepal are doing more with less land, boasting significantly higher forest coverage.
The flashpoint in this legal saga lies in the Singampatti forests—3,388 hectares leased back in 1929 to the Bombay Burma Trading Corporation for tea and coffee plantations. These lands, once bustling with estate workers, have since been reclassified as Core Critical Tiger Habitat and Reserved Forests. As the government moved to reclaim these forests, displaced workers pushed back, demanding rehabilitation and compensation.
While the Madras High Court responded to the workers’ plight, it left the forest restoration question hanging. The Supreme Court has now stepped in to close that loop.
Senior advocate and amicus curiae K. Parameshwar emphasized that no real recovery could begin without first drawing a clear line—literally—around what’s left of the forest. He called for satellite imagery, remote sensing, and geo-mapping to chart out every inch of encroached land.
“Only after the forest areas are identified and distinctly demarcated can we begin to restore what’s been lost to a century of unchecked plantation activity,” he told the Court.
The Tamil Nadu government, for its part, said it’s already on the move—clearing encroachments, resettling displaced workers, and ready to throw its full weight behind the CEC’s survey mission. The state’s Advocate General assured the bench that all administrative wings—forest, police, and district—would stand by to assist.
With a deadline of twelve weeks, the CEC’s mandate covers the Agasthyamalai landscape in its entirety, spanning Periyar Tiger Reserve, Srivilliputhur Grizzled Squirrel Wildlife Sanctuary, Meghamalai, and Thirunelveli Wildlife Sanctuary. The Court has asked for a detailed inventory of all non-forestry activities violating the Forest Conservation Act and the Wildlife Protection Act, along with recommendations for restoring the damaged ecology.
It’s not just about the trees. The Court wants tiger habitats, elephant corridors, and wildlife sanctuaries reimagined, revived, and protected—with the full power of science behind the process.
The clock is ticking. July 15, 2025, is when the Court reconvenes to review the CEC’s findings—and decide what comes next for one of South India’s most vital ecological frontiers.
