[Joshimath Crisis] Delhi High Court dismisses plea seeking high-powered joint committee to investigate matter

Read Time: 03 minutes

Synopsis

The PIL plea stated that the area concerned was severely affected by the 2021 Uttarakhand floods and their aftermath.

The Delhi High Court on Monday dismissed a plea seeking direction to the Centre to form a high-powered joint committee to investigate the sinking of the Joshimath in Uttarakhand.

A bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad dismissed the plea after the counsel appearing for the petitioner informed the bench that the area was affected due to the climate and infrastructural changes.

The plea filed by Advocate Rohit Dandriyal stated that it is imperative that the government of India recognizes the hardship of the residents of the Garhwal region of Uttarakhand and takes action to give them access to the necessities for a decent living.

Earlier, the Court had said that they saw that the National Disaster Response Force had been deployed.

The present PIL plea sought direction to the representatives of all pertinent ministries, which are involved in people's rehabilitation, to look into the Joshimath sinking issue right away.

"In one of the strangest phenomena to strike the holy town nestled in the serene hills of Chamoli at a height of 6,000 ft, houses started developing cracks and damages since 2021, leaving residents anxious and worried. Since the first reports of the cracks in 2021 after landslides in Chamoli, over 570 houses have sustained damages or cracks as residents experienced seismic tremors repeatedly in the subsequent years, the plea stated.

Furthermore, the plea mentioned that Joshimath is home to one of the four cardinals 'Pithas' established by Adi Shankara.

Case Title: Rohit Dandriyal v. Union of India and Ors