CHENNAI: A full bench of the Madras High Court on Wednesday directed the Tamil Nadu government to frame a scheme to eradicate the 'Seemai Karuvelam' trees (prosopis juliflora) throughout the State.
A bench of Acting Chief Justice M N Bhandari and Justices N Sathish Kumar and P D Audikesavalu gave the direction, while passing further interim orders on a PIL seeking removal of the trees, filed in 2015.
Rejecting a plea from the State seeking more time to constitute an expert panel to study the issue, the bench said that there is no point in constituting expert committees one after another. The scheme should be submitted within two weeks, it said.
Earlier, the bench asked the government as to why not the scheme for eradicating the trees from the State in a time bound manner be framed after obtaining opinions from the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) and National Remote Sensing Centre in Hyderabad.
The funds granted for MGNREGS could be used for the eradication of the trees. There would be no use in cutting the trees as they would grow again. The trees, largely seen in Southern districts, affected the ground water table and spoiled the fertility of the land, it added.
The matter stands adjourned for two weeks.