Madras High Court orders release of ₹185 crore for eradicating seemai karuvelam

The Madras High Court has ordered release of ₹185 crore from District Mineral Foundation Trust (DMFT) funds, maintained by 37 out of 38 districts except The Nilgiris, for the purpose of commencing the court-initiated operation titled ‘Sezhumai Karuvoolam’ aimed at eradicating the exotic and invasive species seemai karuvelam (prosopis juliflora) from the State and replacing it with native species.

A Division Bench of Justices N. Sathish Kumar and K. Rajasekar directed the Collectors to release the funds at the rate of ₹5 crore for every district and warned that the court would have no other option but to initiate contempt of court proceedings if the direction was not complied with. They also ordered that seemai karuvelam must be eradicated first from all the water bodies in the State.

The directions were issued after the High Court’s former judge A. Selvam, appointed as a commissioner by the court on March 18 to supervise the eradication process in the southern districts, reported to the Division Bench that it would require a minimum of ₹5 crore for every district to undertake the seemai karuvelam eradication process and replace the exotic trees with native species.

The other judge commissioner V. Bharathidasan, appointed to supervise the eradication works in the northern districts, said, Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary M. Sai Kumar had convened a meeting on August 12 and ordered that the Personal Assistants (General) to the Collectors shall be in touch with the judicial commissioners. However, none of those PAs had contacted him so far, the retired judge told the court.

Taking serious note of the submission, the Division Bench ordered that the PAs to the Collectors must coordinate with the judge commissioners on a daily basis and carry out the instructions issued from time to time. The judges directed the High Court Registry to mark a copy of their order to all the Collectors in Tamil Nadu so that it could be shared with the Block Development Officers as well as Tahsildars too.

Amici Curiae T. Mohan, Chevanan Mohan, Rahul Balaji and M. Santhanaraman had brought it to the notice of the court that the State government had established DMFTs in all districts, except The Nilgiris, for the welfare of the people in the areas affected due to mining of major as well as minor minerals. Every DMFT had a fund accrued from the mandatory contributions paid by the mining/quarrying lessees.

The court was also told that ₹1,729.14 crore had been contributed by the lessees since the establishment of the DMFTs in 2017 till May 31, 2025 and that those funds were used for healthcare, drinking water, education, women and child welfare and such other projects. Money available in this fund could be used to commence the ‘Sezhumai Karuvoolam’ project aimed at getting rid of seemai karuvelam, the amici said.

They also stated that private players interested in purchasing the seemai karuvelam trees for being used as firewood and other purposes could be permitted to uproot them, at their own cost, from specific locations so that the State government need not spend any money on eradication and on the other hand, the public exchequer would end up earning revenue through the sale of timber.