Kalvarayan hills were overexploited by Jagirdhars until T.N. govt. took control in 1976, PCCF tells Madras High Court

A scenic location at Kalvarayan hills in Kallakurichi district. File

The Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Head of Forest Force) on Wednesday told the Madras High Court that the sprawling and biodiverse Kalvarayan hills in the eastern ghats were overexploited by three of its Jagirdhars (mini rulers) before the State government could take over the entire area spread over 78,000 hectares only in 1976 after a long-drawn legal battle.

The submission was made in a status report filed before Justices S.M. Subramaniam and V. Sivagnanam who had taken up a suo motu public interest litigation petition to improve the living conditions of the tribes following the Kallakurichi hooch tragedy which claimed 68 lives this year. Additional Advocate General J. Ravindran submitted the report on behalf of the PCCF (HoFF).

The PCCF Sudhanshu Gupta said the Kalvarayan hills were spread over 600 square kilometres across Kallakurichi, Salem, Tiruvannamalai and Dharmapuri districts and they had an elevation ranging from 600 to 900 metres. The hills were ruled by the Jagirdhars Jadayak Goundan, Ariyak Goundan and Kurumba Goundan for long but the Inam Estates (Abolition and Conversion into Ryotwari) Act of 1963 was intended to abolish the Jagirs.

The State government passed an order on December 31, 1965 for taking control of the Kalvarayan hills under the 1963 Act. However, the Jagirdhars challenged the validity of the Act and obtained an interim stay against its implementation in Kalvarayan hills. The legal battle ended only in 1976 when the cases were withdrawn and the government finally took over the lands on August 25, 1976.

In the meantime, the Jagirdhars had overexploited the valuable forest wealth and hence, the government began taking steps to preserve the ecology. Around 45,508 hectares in the Kalvarayan hills were classified as forest land; 7,965 hectares were classified as dry lands; 1,103 hectares were earmarked as assessed waste land, 716 hectares were classified as unasssesed waste lands and 197 hectares as wetlands.

Stating that the Kalvarayan hills had a population of around 20,000 people as per the 2011 census, the PCCF said various social welfare schemes were being implemented by the forest department in coordination with the revenue and other departments of the government to improve the social status of the tribes. He said roads were laid, overhead drinking water tanks were constructed and solar lights were provided.

He also said that skill development activities were undertaken and the tribes were offered microcredit to the tune of ₹2.34 crore through registered village forest committee and eco development committees. “By utilising the loan so given, the tribal people have engaged in activities like rearing milch animals, establishing petty shops, tea shops etc., which has ensured a standard income to them,” the officer added.

Further, listing out steps taken to promote eco-tourism, he said transportation facility had been improved by laying roads. He also said that several schools had been established by the tribal welfare department in the Kalvarayan hills for the betterment of the tribes. A number of title deeds had been issued to the forest dwellers and every effort was being taken to bring them into the mainstream, he added.

After taking the status report on file, the judges decided to hear the matter after four weeks so that amicus curiae K.R. Tamilmani could also go through it and make his submissions. The judges directed the government officials to file a further status report, on the ongoing development works, during the next hearing and ordered conduct of special camps to provide Aadhaar cards, ration cards and voter IDs to the tribes.