Ajay Gautam vs Union Of India And Another

Ramesh Ranganathan, CJ

The disaster which struck the upper regions of the State of Uttarakhand, and caused large scale loss of life and property, is the cause for the petitioner to invoke the writ jurisdiction of this Court. The reliefs sought for in the Writ Petition (PIL) are as under:-

A. Issue a Writ, order or direction in the nature of Mandamus directing the Respondents to take effective steps as suggested by the report of Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) and make provisions for disaster management in accordance with that report and;

B. Constitute a three member panel presided over by a retired judge of this Hon'ble Court to evaluate, assess and monitor the disaster management techniques currently available with the State.

C. Issue a direction to the committee to submit a report consisting of the measures that can be taken up to resolve the disaster management crisis with the help of modern techniques;

Since the equipment, required to predict/forecast earthquakes, heavy rainfalls and landslides before its occurrence, was considered essential, the Union of India was directed to respond. Several affidavits were filed earlier. In the supplementary compliance affidavit dated 12.09.2019, the deponent, a Scientist and the Head of the Meteorological Center, Dehradun, has stated that, during the pendency of the present Writ Petition (PIL), the supply order for procurement of 10 X-band Doppler Weather Radars had been issued by the Director General of Meteorology to M/s Astra Microwave Products Ltd; the X-band Palorimetric Doppler Weather Radars, to be installed at the proposed sites at Mukteshwar and Surkanda Devi in the State of Uttarakhand, are still under manufacturing process by the firm M/s Astra Microwave Products Ltd. Hyderabad; the tentative date for installation, at the proposed sites of Uttarakhand, is by the end of March, 2020; and efforts are being made to complete the process of installation at the earliest on a priority basis.

In the light of the affidavit now filed, and as the respondents assure that all efforts would be made to install the equipments by the end of March, 2020, prayer (a) and (c) do not survive necessitating any further directions being issued in this regard.

With regards prayer (b), suffice it to direct the second-respondent, in consultation with the National Disaster Management Authority, to take such measures as are required to put in place an evacuation plan, and a responsive disaster management plan for its implementation in case of emergency in order to prevent loss of life and property.

In the light of the aforesaid observations, and as it is evident that the process is under way to procure the required equipment to enable earthquakes, heavy rainfalls and landslides to be forecasted prior to its occurrence, appointing a panel of retired Judges to monitor disaster management may not be effective, for the responsibility to safeguard the lives of its inhabitants and their property lies with the State Government. Since the second-respondent has already been requested to take necessary steps in this regard, no further direction need be issued in this Writ Petition (PIL).

The Writ Petition (PIL) is closed. No costs.