Joshimath Crisis: PIL For High Powered Joint Committee, Rehabilitation Of Affected Residents Withdrawn From Delhi High Court

A public interest litigation moved in the backdrop of recent land sinking incidents in Uttarakhand’s Joshimath area was withdrawn from Delhi High Court on Tuesday.

A division division bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad dismissed as withdrawn a PIL moved by a Delhi based lawyer Rohit Dandriyal which stated that the area was affected due to climate and infrastructural changes.

The plea sought constitution of a high powered joint committee for inspection of Joshimath, including rehabilitation of the residents.

The court was apprised that the Supreme Court last month, while refusing to entertain a similar PIL, granted liberty to the petitioners to approach the Uttarakhand High Court, which is already seized of the matter.

Earlier, the Uttarakhand Government had informed the court that National and State Disaster Response Forces were deployed to deal with the crisis and that many people have been resettled and relocated.

Deputy Advocate General for the State of Uttarakhand JK Sethi had also submitted that two committees were formed to look into the issue and that a rehabilitation package was also being prepared.

The plea stated that nearly 500 families living in Joshimath are either risking their lives by still living in their houses or are looking for accommodation at other places in cold weather conditions.

It was the petitioner’s case that he wrote a representation on January 6 to the Ministries of Road Transport and Highways, Home Affairs and Power, New & Renewable Energy, requesting them to constitute the said committee, in view of the construction of Vishnuprayag hydro electric plant project and national highway.

The plea submitted that the said construction activity in Joshimath in the past years violated the fundament rights of the residents.

“In one of the strangest phenomenon 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,” it added.

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