Urban forests under the Miyawaki method were being set up in two different places in Thoothukudi, the Thoothukudi Corporation Commissioner V.P. Jeyaseelan informed the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court. The project was being carried out under his direct supervision, he submitted.
The court was hearing a public interest litigation petition filed by K. Selva Kumar of Thoothukudi who complained that close to 300 trees were cut down by the Corporation. He sought a direction to restrain the Corporation from cutting down roadside trees under the guise of infrastructure development.
During the course of the hearing, the Corporation Commissioner submitted that permission was obtained for cutting down 260 trees in three different places and the uprooted trees were being replanted wherever possible. Miyawaki forests were being set up and for one tree that was being cut, 10 saplings would be planted and maintained, he said.
Taking note of the fact that permission was obtained for cutting trees and they were being done so as per the conditions laid down, a Division Bench of Justices N. Kirubakaran and B. Pugalendhi observed that the allegations levelled in the petition were not substantiated.
The court recorded the undertaking of the Corporation Commissioner and dismissed the petition.
