Supreme Court Bans Commercial Activity in Fragile Segur Elephant Corridor
The Supreme Court on Monday refused to allow any commercial activity in the ecologically fragile Segur plateau in the Nilgiris, upholding a Madras High Court order that declared land purchases by resort owners in the area null and void.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant empathised with those who had lost their livelihoods but maintained that the area, which serves as an elephant corridor near Mudumalai National Park, must be protected from commercial exploitation.
The court observed that the guidelines issued by the High Court for protecting the elephant corridor need to be implemented. It said the state government is free to identify land worth acquiring that is not owned or possessed by tribal communities. If difficulties arise in the acquisition process, the state may approach the High Court for modifications.
Senior advocate Haripriya Padmanabhan, Additional Advocate General for Tamil Nadu, informed the court that the state is not allowing any commercial activity or encroachments in the area. She added that the government is treating with sensitivity the proposed acquisition of land inhabited by Adivasis and forest-dwellers.
Resort owners and other landowners, represented by senior advocates Salman Khursheed, Shoeb Alam and P.B. Suresh, had challenged the High Court's 2025 order, which confirmed a committee's finding that their land purchases in the plateau were invalid.
In October 2020, the Supreme Court had upheld a July 2011 Madras High Court judgment declaring that the Tamil Nadu government was fully empowered to notify the 'Elephant Corridor' in the ecologically sensitive Nilgiris district. That judgment allowed the formation of a committee led by a retired High Court judge to hear individual objections from resort owners and private landowners under the Tamil Nadu Preservation of Private Forest Act, 1949.
During earlier hearings, the Supreme Court had remarked, 'The elephant is a gentleman and man should give way for the elephant… Elephants are big, powerful but fragile. We are dealing with a fragile eco-system.'
