I was surprised at the sweep of the judgment
Was your public interest litigation (PIL) in the Supreme Court sparked off by any particular incident?
I was travelling through Gudalur and saw large areas of forests being felled and timber logs stacked up for sale. These forests at one time belonged to my family, the Nilambur Kovilakam. The ecological history of the Nilgiris has always been closely linked to the history of the Nilambur Kovilakam.
The trees were being felled in violation of various legislations and rules. Besides, the contractors who obtained permission for felling these trees remitted only Rs 1,000 to the district collector for 50 logs of rosewood. I spoke to a lawyer-friend, A S Nambiar, in order to figure out a way to stop these unlawful activities. Nambiar drafted a petition based on what I told him.
When the matter eventually came up before justices J S Verma and B N Kirpal, the court stayed the felling of trees in all of the Nilgiris. Even I was taken by surprise at the sweep of the judgment. There was quite a hullabaloo about the judgment. Small growers, planters, factory owners and laypersons from Ooty came up with petitions against the stay order. I began to feel that I had bitten off more than I could chew. Nambiar then assured me that the Supreme Court had taken up the matter as it's own.
Did you attend any of the hearings in court?
It was impossible to enter the courtroom. There were over 2,000 people in court: standing counsels for the states, advocates, their assistants, estate owners, individual petitioners and so on. The court couldn't proceed, thanks to the crowd, and the judge asked everyone other than the advocates to leave. Then, in the afternoon, in court, some plantation owners and members of planters' associations approached and asked whether we could strike a compromise. I refused, saying, "This is not my case alone anymore.'
The Supreme Court litigation was not the first case you filed