HC summons mines commissioner for ordering to resume brick kilns' ops

CHENNAI: A division bench of Madras High Court on Tuesday summoned the Tamil Nadu mines and geology commissioner to appear before the court on January 19 for issuing government orders to resume operations of 177 brick kilns in the elephant corridors in the Thadagam area of Coimbatore district.

A special bench hearing forest-related cases has passed the direction citing cases against the operation of such brick kilns are pending before the Madras High Court and the National Green Tribunal (NGT).

The bench comprising Justice N Sathish Kumar and Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy expressed its dissatisfaction against the authorities for passing such an order despite the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) order to close the illegal brick kilns in Thadagam.

Advocate SP Chockalingam raised the issue before the bench saying that the operation of these brick kilns would affect the environment as well as the elephants.

It is also noted that the TNPCB had filed a status report before the bench informing that it had issued a closure report against 118 illegal brick kilns.

Recording the submissions, the High Court ordered the officer to appear before the court during the next hearing to give an explanation of how the GO was passed even though the cases are pending with the HC and NGT.

It could be noted that the State has submitted that as per the direction of the HC, the government has constituted a committee to identify and secure elephant corridors in the state.