Kerala High Court has restrained Ram Bahadur Thakur Ltd., Kochi, from cutting and removing the trees in its nine tea estates at Peermade and Vandiperiyar and from fragmenting the estates. The order was passed on a writ petition filed by the High Range Estate Labour Union (AITUC), seeking to direct the Central Government to take over the management and control of tea plantations of the company, invoking the provisions of the Tea Act 1953 and to direct the Tea Board to secure the working conditions of the workers in these plantations.