The court says cars and motorcycles can be restricted up to a point in Kodaikanal and the Nilgiris hill stations from where tourists can board electric buses with glass tops to enjoy the scenic beauty.
| Photo Credit: G. KARTHIKEYAN
The Madras High Court on Tuesday began mulling the possibility of fixing a cap on the number of tourist vehicles that could be permitted to hill stations such as the Nilgiris and Kodaikanal during the summer between April and June this year.
A special Division Bench of Justices N. Sathish Kumar and D. Bharatha Chakravarthy suggested a maximum of 10,000 tourist vehicles a day could be permitted to the hill stations but decided to take a final call after hearing Advocate-General P.S. Raman on March 13.
Expressing deep anguish over the environmental degradation of the two hill stations due to uncontrolled tourist activity over the years, the Bench wanted the State government to come up with innovative ideas for ensuring quality tourism.
The judges said private tourist cars and motorcycles could be restricted up to a point in both the hill stations from where the tourists should be asked to board only government electric buses with glass tops to enjoy the beauty of the hill stations.
This would prevent the unsavoury experience of the ghat roads getting choked with motor vehicles that move inch-by-inch during the tourist season and also considerably reduce the huge number of road accidents, the judges said.
Amici curiae Chevanan Mohan and Rahul Balaji impressed upon the necessity for the State government to come up with innovative ideas till the expert teams from IIT-Madras and IIM- Bangalore submit their study reports on fixing the carrying capacity of the ghat roads.
Mr. Mohan told the court that in 2024 the Division Bench had made e-pass mandatory to visit the hill stations and therefore it was time to impose regulations to ensure that the pristine hills do not choke because of uncontrolled tourist movement.
Justices Kumar and Chakravarthy told Special Government Pleader T. Seenivasan that they had interacted with shopkeepers in the Nilgiris and Kodaikanal and found the local economy was not getting benefited out of such uncontrolled floating crowd.
On his part, Mr. Sreenivasan said the data collected through Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras revealed that 3,000 to 4,000 vehicles entered the Nilgiris on weekdays and this number rose to 8,000 on weekends in February 2025.
He said the State government was committed to ensuring quality tourism at hill stations without affecting any stakeholders and sought time for the appearance of the Advocate- General before the court could take a decision on fixing a cap for tourist vehicles.
Accepting his request, the judges adjourned the matter to March 13.
Published – March 05, 2025 08:48 am IST
