The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court directed Virudhunagar district administration to file a report on the action taken against Thiruchuli tahsildar, who permitted removal of seemai karuvelam trees in Kiruthumal river in Uluthimadai village panchayat, without auction.

MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court directed Virudhunagar district administration to file a report on the action taken against Thiruchuli tahsildar, who permitted removal of seemai karuvelam trees in Kiruthumal river in Uluthimadai village panchayat, without auction.

A division bench of Justices R Subramanian and L Victoria Gowri was hearing a PIL filed by P Karunakaran of Virudhunagar district. The petitioner said that Kiruthumal River flows through the Ulithimadai village. However, the free flow of the river was affected due to the growth of the seemai karuvelam trees.

The tahsildar, who was not a competent authority, granted permission to a person to cut and remove the trees without holding an auction. Hence, the petitioner moved court seeking a direction to authorities to take action against the tahsildar.

During the course of the hearing, the petitioner’s counsel submitted that the tahsildar had no jurisdiction for ordering the removal of the trees without auction. However, the authorities submitted that based on the complaint received by the district administration officials, the removal of the trees have been stopped.

The court directed the district administration authorities to file a report on the action taken against the tahsildar for unauthorised removal of the trees for about six km. The hearing was adjourned to October 23.