HC bins plea against collection of fees at old Courtallam falls

Madurai: Madras high court has dismissed a plea against collection of fees from the public at old Courtallam falls in Tenkasi district.The court was hearing a public interest litigation filed by S Subash of Tenkasi district. The petitioner stated that the tourist season at Courtallam would commence in June. Maintenance works are presently being carried out on a warfooting in all the waterfalls. He claimed that the forest department issued a notification stating that a fee of Rs20 per person would be collected for bathing at old Courtallam falls.He stated that authorities have never collected any fee from the public for bathing in waterfalls situated in Tirunelveli and Tenkasi districts. He stated that only a fee was imposed for parking of vehicles. The proposal to collect bathing fees would cause severe hardship and inconvenience to the general public. Hence, the petitioner moved court.However, the additional government pleader submitted that the authorities are only collecting entry fees and the same is not for bathing. The government had also issued a GO in this regard.A division bench of justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy and justice R Poornima observed that since the government has authorised the collection of fee, the same cannot be said to be unauthorised. Hence, the judges dismissed the petition.