The Supreme Court agreed to hear on a plea seeking urgent steps to rescue 15 miners who have been trapped inside an illegal coal mine in Meghalaya since December 13.
The matter was mentioned on Wednesday for urgent listing before a bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice S K Kaul which agreed to hear the matter on Thursday.
The PIL filed by advocate Aditya N Prasad also sought a direction to the Centre and other authorities concerned to prepare a standard operating procedure (SOP) for rescue operations in “mines and other similar conditions”. The plea, filed through advocate Astha Sharma, sought directions to the Centre and the state to utilise the services of the technical wing of the Indian Armed Forces — the Indian Army, Indian Navy and Indian Air Force — in the operation immediately to rescue the 15 miners.