Crack down on illegal resorts in Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve, Madras High Court tells T.N. govt. officials

The Madras High Court on Thursday (October 9, 2025) ordered appropriate action against all illegal resorts and tourist lodges functioning within the prohibited zone of Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve (STR) in Erode district and called for an action-taken report from the district administration as well as Forest Department officials within four weeks.

First Division Bench of Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Justice G. Arul Murugan passed the orders on a public interest litigation (PIL) petition filed by R. Karpagam, 57, an environmental activist from Coimbatore. The petitioner had claimed that 47 resorts and tourist lodges were functioning illegally in STR.

Her counsel SP. Chockalingam told the court that the 47 resorts and tourist lodges listed out by his client were illegal for two reasons: firstly, they did not have statutory approval from the National Board of Wildlife (NBW) though such approval was mandatory under Section 33 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act of 1972.

Secondly, those resorts and tourist lodges did not have the requisite clearance from the Tamil Nadu Hills Area Conservation Authority (HACA), he said, and claimed to have collected details regarding the alleged illegality, by the 47 resorts and private lodges, under the Right to Information Act of 2005.

The petitioner, in her affidavit, had said that the illegal resorts had created increased anthropogenic pressure on the forests, besides causing a great amount of stress to the wildlife.

“For the forests and hills to survive, the illegal resorts should be removed. The tacit support from authorities are the reason for the mushrooming of illegal resorts day by day. If this illegality is not curbed, we may lose our pristine forests and wonderous wildlife in the near future,” the affidavit read.

The litigant had included the National Tiger Conservation Authority, the NBW, the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests-cum-Chief Wildlife Warden, the Field Director of STR, the HACA, Erode Collector, and the private resorts as well as private lodges as respondents to the PIL petition.

State Government Pleader A. Edwin Prabakar told the court the Collector had already denotified some huts functioning as illegal resorts and issued notices to them.