The High Court Bench at Madurai has stayed the shifting of the Survey of Medicinal Plants Unit-Siddha, from the premises of the Government Siddha Medical College at Palayamkottai in Tirunelveli, to a private medical college at Salem.

A Division Bench, comprising Justice V Ramasubramanian and Justice D Hariparanthaman, granted the interim injunction on a public interest litigation filed by Dr J Joseph Thas, president, 'Friends of Siddha Medicine', a registered trust formed for the promotion of Siddha medicine.

Dr Thas asked why the Ayush Department is taking such a risk of shifting the Unit when the Union Health Ministry is taking measures to develop Ayush Clusters in various parts of the country to promote medicinal plants herbs on the lines of Special Economic Zones (SEZs).

The department has recently granted approval to develop a Cluster in Tamil Nadu and has sanctioned rupees 16.6 crore for the project. It has also identified Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu as a medicinal plants zone in an agro-climatic area in the state.

Regarding the Unit he said the Central Council for Research in Ayurveda and Siddha (CCRAS) established the SMPU on the Palayamkottai Siddha College campus in 1971, considering its proximity to the 'Pothigai hills' (Agasthyakootam), which is rich in medicinal herbs.

He said more than 162 research papers had been published from the unit, which had proved useful to students, exporters of medicinal plants and Siddha practitioners.

Earlier in 1999, the CCRAS had a plan to shift the Unit to Bangalore, but it was dropped following the intervention of the then Union health minister. There was another plan to shift it to the campus of Manonmaniam Sundaranar University in Tirunelveli. That decision was also put off after long agitation by the public, he said.