Court cannot tell govt about species of trees to be planted: Madras HC

CHENNAI: The first bench of the Madras High Court on Wednesday observed that the court cannot pass a direction to the State government saying which species of the plants should be planted under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS).

While heading the first bench along with Justice N Mala, Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari made these observations on refusing to entertain public interest litigation filed by S Ayya aka Subramanian, a resident of Palayamkottai in Tirunelveli district.

The petitioner sought a direction from the court to the state government to plant oleifera (murungai) and palmyra (panai) under the MGNREGA across the state.

When the matter was taken up, the CJ noted asked the petitioner how the court could interfere with the policy decision of the government by asking it to plant this or that species of plants.

“These kinds of petitions are dangerous. If we allow this today, then someone will come tomorrow with a plea seeking directions to plant eucalyptus and Prosopis Juliflora which would devastate the ecosystem,” the CJ observed.

As the court stated that it would dismiss the petition, the petitioner submitted that he is ready to withdraw the petition.

“You should refrain yourself from filing these kinds of petitions,” the CJ said and granted liberty to the petitioner to withdraw the PIL.

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