The Supreme Court order on June 3 to create a one-kilometre Eco-sensitive Zone (ESZ) within the boundaries of all wildlife sanctuaries, protected forest lands and national parks has been mounting protests and criticism in the hilly regions of Kerala. A three-judge bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao, BR Gavai and Aniruddha Bose, pronounced the judgement in a petition seeking protection of forest lands in the Nilgiris district of Tamil Nadu. The judgement referred to the guidelines on buffer zones issued by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) of the Government of India on February 9, 2011.