Madras High Court orders e-pass system for vehicles entering Nilgiris district, Kodaikanal

The Madras High Court on Monday directed the District Collectors of the Nilgiris and Dindigul districts to regulate entry of vehicles of non-residents into the Nilgiris District and Kodaikanal through an e-pass system from May 7 to June 30 on a pilot basis. [G Subramania Koushik v The Principal Secretary and Ors.].A bench of Justices N Sathish Kumar and D Bharatha Chakravarthy passed the order to facilitate a study being undertaken by Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IITM) and Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIMB) for fixing carrying capacity of roads in the hill stations.The Court, therefore, clarified that there would not not be any restriction on the number of vehicles entering the hill stations.."Therefore, while the study is being undertaken, for the current year, without any restrictions on the number of vehicles entering the hill stations, entry of vehicles can be regulated by granting e-passes," the Court said..The Court was hearing a batch of petitions on fixation of carrying capacity of roads in Nilgiris and Dindigul Districts. Niligiris district has the famous Ooty hill station while Kodaikanal in located in Dindigul. On April 22, the Court was informed by Tamil Nadu government that IITM and IIMB were to take up the study for fixing carrying capacity.Pending such study, the Court had listed the matter for interim measures on April 29.From a status report filed by the State government, the Court found that 20,011 vehicles enter the Nilgiris every day, which includes 11,509 cars, 1,341 vans, 637 buses, 6,524 two-wheelers in an average during the peak season.This situation, the Court said, was alarming as it was preventing movement of local residents for their livelihood, spoiling tourists' experiences and affecting the environment."The roads are carrying beyond their capacity. It can also be seen that all these routes are meddling/interfering with the elephant corridors. and In view of traffic jams, vehicles are stranded in the roads cutting across forests, the animals are worst affected. It causes irreparable damage to the environment," it added.Therefore, while the study is being undertaken, for the current year, without any restrictions on the number of vehicles entering the hill stations, entry of vehicles can be regulated by granting e-passes, the Court suggested.It said that the passes could be issued after filling of a form with questions as to the type of vehicle, purpose of visit, duration of stay, the number of people travelling etc. The portal for generating these passes can also collect Green Tax or Toll Charges of possible, the Court further suggested.The Court emphasized that the order was being passed with the purpose of saving the Nilgiris biosphere and for the protection of Western Ghats. "We must note that human beings alone cannot exist on earth without bio-diversity. While the large and entire landscape is available to us, the human beings, variety of flora and fauna find their existence only in these hill areas and environmentally important zones. Therefore, it is critical to preserve this pristine places more in the interest of human beings as such,," the order stated. The Court also noted that due to extreme drought conditions, even provision of adequate drinking water to the local residents has become a challenge.Accordingly, the Court issued a slew of directions to the District Collectors to implement the e-pass system on a pilot basis from May 7 to June 30..Importantly, the Court directed the Nilgiris District Collector to consider stopping tourists vehicles entering via Kalhatti Ghat Road because it is stated to be one of the primary reasons for the traffic congestion..Senior Advocate T Mohan and advocates M Santhanaraman, Rahul Balaji, and C Mohan appeared in the matter as Amici Curiae.Additional Advocate General J Ravindran appeared for the Tamil Nadu government..[Read Order]