The first bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthi

lkumar Ramamoorthy noted that the owners of several brick kilns were parties to these proceedings and others seek to be impleaded. “Such owners suggest that the measures taken by the State to close down some of the brick kilns are in colourable exercise of authority and without following the procedure established by law.

“To the extent that the relevant brick kiln owners have any grievance against the State for the manner adopted in closing down the units, such owners and manufacturers will be entitled to approach the appropriate forum in accordance with law,” the bench said and adjourned the matter to April 21. The bench also recorded government’s submission that many of brick kilns have been closed because they did not show any permission obtained from the District Collector, which is mandatory.

The plea relates to illegal mining in Thadagam region in Coimbatore being the root cause behind man-elephant conflict in the region. The mining of red sand by over 100 brick kilns have destroyed important elephant corridors, the plea said.

However, counsels appearing for the brick kiln owners claimed that there was no elephant corridor in Thadagam barring a few instances of elephants straying in the area.