MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Thursday directed the state forest department to file a status report on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) which sought direction to protect the spotted deer population in the Gangaikondan-II and Thalaiyuthu villages in Tirunelveli.
The litigant, SP Muthuraman of Tirunelveli, submitted that the government declared Part-I of the Gangaikondan village as spotted deer sanctuary where 196 spotted deer are living in 288.40 hectares within the reserve forest.
He further came to know through the RTI Act that besides the above area, nearly 107 and 212 spotted deer were found in the reserve forests of Gangaikondan Part-II and Thalaiyuthu villages in 152.76 hectares and 565 hectares respectively, Muthuraman claimed.
But the spotted deer in these two areas are not protected properly as the areas have not been classified as 'sanctuary', he claimed and requested the court to direct the authorities to include the boundaries of the reserve forest in the said two villages within the spotted deer sanctuary in Gangaikondan-I village. A Bench of justices D Krishnakumar and PD Audikesavalu issued a notice to the authorities concerned and directed them to file a status report within two weeks.