Manjolai tea estate workers: Madras High Court dismisses cases filed against voluntary retirement scheme

Justices N. Sathish Kumar and D. Bharatha Chakravarthy, however, direct TN Govt to offer all relief measures to workers suffering job loss

The Madras High Court on Tuesday (December 3, 2024) dismissed a batch of writ petitions filed against voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) offered by Bombay Burmah Trading Corporation Limited (BBTCL) to the Manjolai tea estate workers in Tirunelveli district.

A special Division Bench of Justices N. Sathish Kumar and D. Bharatha Chakravarthy, however, directed the Tamil Nadu government to extend all the relief measures which it had agreed to offer to the workers who had suffered job loss.

BBTCL had decided to wind up its operations at Manjolai, Kakkaachi, Nalumukku, Oothu, and Kuthiraivetti (collectively known as Manjolai estates) much before the end of the 99-year lease granted to it by the erstwhile Singampatti Zamindar in 1928.

After the Zamindar had leased out 3,388.78 hectares to the private company, the government had notified the entire Singampatti estate as a forest on March 22, 1937 under Sections 26 and 32 of the then Madras Forest Act of 1882.

Subsequently, on August 2, 1962, areas forming part of the estate were notified as a part of the Mundanthurai tiger sanctuary under the then Wild Birds and Animals (Protection) Act, 1912 and it turned out to be the first notified tiger sanctuary in the country.

Further, on December 28, 2007, the government declared the areas which formed part of the estate as a core critical tiger habitat by invoking the Wild Life (Protection) Act of 1972 and wanted to convert the estate into a natural forest after the expiry of the lease.

A batch of writ petitioners including K. Krishnasamy of Puthiya Tamilagam party had approached the court against premature winding up of operations and insisted on letting the workers run the tea estate through a cooperative society.

On the other hand, another batch of writ petitions were filed insisting that no commercial plantation should be allowed in the forest areas and that the entire tea estate must be converted into a natural forest in the interest of the flora and fauna.

Advocate General P.S. Raman had told the court the workers suffering job loss would be provided with 309 tenements, worth ₹14 lakh each, in the plains free of cost without even insisting on payment of the allottee share of ₹3 lakh each.

He said, 150 Tamil Nadu Urban Habitat Development Board (TNHUDB) tenements at Reddiarpatti near Tirunelveli city and 240 tenements at Manimuthar in Ambasamudram taluk would be allotted under the Kalaignar Kanavu Illam and another scheme.

Stating that most of the tea estate workers belonged to the Scheduled Castes, the A-G said they would also be given loans under the Annal Ambedkar Business Champions Scheme with 35% subsidy and 6% interest subvention for starting a business of their choice after skill development training.

The non-Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe workers would be given loans up to ₹75 lakh each under the New Entrepreneur-cum-Enterprise Development Scheme with 25% subsidy and 3% interest subvention, the A-G said. In addition, Aavin had also agreed to provide them loans for establishing dairy farms, he added.

Published - December 03, 2024 03:31 pm IST