Chennai: Madras high court flayed Tamil Nadu govt for the inordinate delay in notifying elephant corridors in the state, and directed the govt to expedite the long-pending process. “The issue has remained pending since 2019 and it cannot brook any further delay,” said a division bench comprising Justice N Sathish Kumar and Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy.While hearing a public interest litigation filed by S Muralidharan, the judges further noted that the state had submitted a status report on the progress made in notifying 41 identified elephant corridors. The report indicated that while some corridors were in the final stage of notification, others were at different stages of processing and a few had been proposed to be dropped.The court permitted the petitioner and the amici curiae to file their objections to the proposal to drop certain corridors. It also directed the govt to proceed without delay in notifying all corridors that had already reached the final stage. The remaining work shall be completed within the timelines proposed by the state itself, they said.“The writ petition was filed in the year 2019 after finalisation of the issue by the Supreme court. This cannot brook any further delay. Every day delay will only add cost and difficulty to the state,” the bench observed, adding that continued development in the intervening period would only complicate the exercise.Referring to the govt order dated March 5, 2026, the court noted that the govt had earlier informed the court that reports on three elephant corridors had been finalised for notification, while reports relating to another 12 corridors had also been completed by the committee concerned.The bench, however, observed that even the three corridors identified earlier were yet to be officially notified and that there appeared to be little progress with respect to the remaining corridors. Directing the authorities to expedite the exercise, the court ordered that all finalised elephant corridors be notified and the notifications placed before it. It also sought a fresh status report detailing the progress made from now until the next date of hearing. The matter has been posted for further hearing on July 31.
