Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin. File
| Photo Credit: S. Siva Saravanan
A Division Bench of Justices S.M. Subramaniam and C. Kumarappan passed an interim order requesting Advocate General P.S. Raman to apprise the Chief Minister, the Sports Minister and Adi Dravidar Welfare Minister N. Kayalvizhi Selvaraj about the situation prevailing in Kalvarayan hills so that they could visit the hamlets.
The judges said that only a visit either by the Chief Minister or the Ministers could ensure provision of immediate succour such as electricity, drinking water, education to children in the tribal hamlets and also long term solutions such as providing employment opportunities by promoting tourism or through other avenues.
The observations were made during the hearing of a suo motu public interest litigation petition taken up by the Division Bench, after the recent Kallakurichi hooch tragedy that claimed over 66 lives, to improve the livelihood of the tribes who were supposedly selling spurious liquor due to lack of other means to make ends meet.
Justice Subramaniam said, the Chief Minister must be apprised of the fact that the erstwhile Vizayanagaram emperor Krishna Devaraya had gifted hundreds of villages in the then South Arcot and Salem districts to the ancestors of three Malayali tribe Jagirdhars — Sadaya Goundan, Kurumba Goundan and Arya Goundan.
Areas gifted to the first two Jagirdhars (mini rulers) fell under the present Kallakurichi district and the rest in Salem district. The gifted land measured roughly about 1,000 sq.km., and three Jagirdhars had refused to join the territory of India till the declaration of Emergency in the country. It was only on June 25, 1976 that they were forced to hand over the areas to the then South Arcot Collector.
“The Chief Minister must be informed that the first ever elections in these hamlets were held only in 1996. We don’t know what the political parties in the State were doing till then. Even now amicus curiae K.R. Tamilmani states that pregnant women in the hamlets have to be carried on shoulders for about 30 to 40 km to reach the main road,” the judge told the A-G.
“Our request is either the honourable Chief Minister or the Sports Minister Udhaynidhi Stalin can visit the hamlets along with the Adi Dravidar Welfare Minister and practically see the plight of these people. They have not exercised voting rights till 1996. We don’t know what the political parties were doing for so long and what the government was doing,” Justice Subramaniam said.
He also said that a visit to the hamlets by the judges may not make a big difference whereas, to the contrary, a visit by the Chief Minister or the Ministers could make a big difference and bring about a desirable change in the living conditions of the inhabitants. The judges also took on record a report submitted by the amicus curiae on the present conditions in the hamlets.
When the A-G said, an official report was also under preparation, the Bench granted time till Friday for submission of the report. In the meantime, they asked the A-G to convey the court’s request to the Chief Minister and the other two Ministers.
