Supreme Court directs Tamil Nadu to close resorts

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Tamil Nadu government to seal or close down 12 resorts and hotels constructed on the elephant corridor of Nilgiris in violation of the law.

A three-judge bench of Justices Madan B Lokur, Deepak Gupta and Abdul Nazeer while accepting the report of the District collector directed that resorts or hotels constructed without prior approval should be closed down. The report is to the effect that they are running commercial enterprises even though they do not have approval for the same. They are directed to be closed down or sealed by the Collector.

The bench said so far as the above 12 resorts is concerned, "we grant them 48 hours' time to produce all documents showing approval and valid title and possession for running resorts before the Collector. In case, the Collector finds that the documentation is incomplete or approval not granted, she should close down and seal the premises immediately thereafter."

The bench said, "We have seen the Plan of Action Report filed by the District Collector of the Nilgiris, Tamil Nadu. For the time being, we are concerning overselves with the resort complexes with restaurant (commercial buildings). A list of 39 such resort complexes with restaurant (commercial buildings) has been given in the Report of the Collector.