On Tuesday (January 10), the Supreme Court of India deferred the urgent hearing of land sinking incidents in Joshimath city in the Chamoli district of Uttarkhand.
A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed before the apex court by a Hindu religious leader, Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati. He had sought active support from the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) for the residents of Joshimath.
Besides, he had urged the Supreme court to declare the lank sinking incidents in the city as a ‘National disaster’ and direct authorities to pay compensation to the victims. The matter came up before a 2-Judge Bench of Justice PS Narasimha and Chief Justice of India, DY Chandrachud.
Supreme Court declines urgent hearing of Joshimath sinking incidents on #Joshimath and posts the matter for hearing on January 16.
— ANI (@ANI) January 10, 2023
Supreme Court says everything which is important need not come to the apex court. There are democratically elected institutions working on it. pic.twitter.com/a2E1F2OK3d
While the petitioner had sought an urgent hearing of the alarming situation, they deferred it to January 16, 2023, by claiming that not every urgent issue in the country needs to be addressed by the apex court.
CJI DY Chandrachud stated, “Everything which is important in the country need not come to us. There are democratically elected institutions to see this. They can deal with what falls under their control. We’ll keep it on the 16th.”
“There are institutions taking care of it,” Justice Narasimha further emphasised. This was despite the fact that 610 buildings in the city had developed large cracks and 60 families had been forced to move to temporary shelters. A total of 600 families are expected to be affected by the recent lank sinking incidents.
The grim situation in Joshimath
Joshimath is located on the middle slopes of the hill, bounded on the west and east by Karmanasa and Dhaknala, respectively, and on the other sides by Dhauliganga and Alaknanda.
With increasing urbanization, this small Himalayan town has come under increased strain. According to the researchers, urbanization has historically aggravated these issues because it disrupts natural water drainage, slopes, and results in an uncontrolled flow of water.
Reckless construction at hilly areas comes at the cost. We have witnessed Kedarnath. Mother nature grants more time for graceful eviction than any human-run-courts. The warning signs are there at Joshimath since 70’s. pic.twitter.com/lP5iZFz2My
— The Hawk Eye (@thehawkeyex) January 8, 2023
It is pertinent to note that the alarm for an expected landslide was raised as far back as 1976, in the Mishra Committee report. The report stated that Joshimath is situated in a landslide zone and it is sinking.
Despite providing a scientific basis, the Mishra Committee’s recommendations were ignored by the governments for years.
Supreme Court’s approach on the Haldwani Encroachment case
The decision by the Supreme Court to defer the hearing in the Joshimath case, despite an impending catastrophe awaiting the residents of the city, is alarming.
While the Chief Justice of India has claimed that there are democratically elected institutions to take care of the land sinking incidents in Joshimath, the Supreme Court chose a different approach altogether in the Haldwani land encroachment case.
Instead, the apex court put a stay on the matter of the removal of encroachment from the land owned by the Indian Railways land in Haldwani and ruled that a workable arrangement has to be devised.
While the Supreme Court agreed that the land belongs to Indian Railways and is needed for the development and expansion of railway infrastructure, the court stated in its judgement that the government must give full rehabilitation to the eligible residents of the area.
This was despite the fact that the matter underwent legal scrutiny for 15 long years, starting in 2007, following which the Uttarkhand High Court directed the eviction of the illegal residents.
The Uttarakhand High Court had ordered the authorities to evict forthwith the unauthorized occupants to vacate the premises from the railway land adjoining Haldwani Railway Station, commonly called Gaffur Basti. Accordingly, the action was initiated on December 29 after providing residents with a one-week prior notice.
Further, in accordance with the court ruling, residents of the Banbhoolpura area in Uttarakhand’s Haldwani who live on encroached railway land were also asked to surrender their licensed weapons and guns with the administration before the process of removing encroachments began.
Given that ‘human suffering’ remained the matter of concern in the Haldwani case, a similar application of urgency and redressal seemed missing in the Joshimath case.
While the Supreme Court was quick to enter the arena of the Legislature in the land encroachment case, it left the Joshimath disaster conveniently at the hands of ‘democratically elected institutions.’
