Justice Kumar said a special government prosecutor (forests) T. Seeivasan that unauthorized families/cottages that are not worth 2,000 GBP a day were rented for 20,000 GBP during the summer season, led to the use of tourists.
The Madras High Court ordered the constitution of two committees headed by district income officers (DRO) to intervene against all illegal families/cottages operating in Nilgiris and Kodaikanal in the Dindigul district and immediately closed them in accordance with the law.
The Special Division of Justices N. Sathish Kumar and D. Bharatha Chakravarthy ordered that the committees also form a city commissioner and a district tourist official. They were ordered to perform a thorough control of unlicensed families/chat.
The orders were handed over after the TV attorney Sutesh Kumar and the amici Curiae T. Mohan, Chevanan Mohan, Rahul Balaji and M. Santhamans brought a problem to announce the court and said tourists were in the fathe season.
Judge Kumar agreed with them, said a special government prosecutor (forests) T. Sevivasan that unauthorized hostels/cottages that are not worth 2,000 GBP per day were rented for 20,000 GBP per day during the summer season, which led to exploitation of tourists.
Therefore, the divisional bench ordered the committees to carry out a thorough inspection in the hills. They were ordered to collect information about households located in their jurisdiction from websites and mobile applications of private hotel aggregators and verify their licenses.
Both committees were also ordered to create a mechanism for receiving public complaints concerning illegal families. Reserved numbers of mobile phones or WhatsApp communication could be established to accept such complaints, but the identity of the complainants must be maintained confidential, ordered the court.
The judges also called for a detailed report on the situation, along with photographs and video clips in terms of interventions against illegal families/cottages during the next hearing of the case of June 20, 2025.
Published – 29 April 2025 17:55
