Taking suo moto cognizance of the tragedy in which 24 students were washed away, the Himachal Pradesh High Court hauled up the State Government and asked its top bureaucrat to file a report about details of warning systems installed at the dam site and the procedures observed before discharge of water that washed away 24 engineering students of a Hyderabad-based institute on Sunday evening.
The court also directed the chief secretary to file a status report by 16 June about the cause of accident and the steps taken with regard to relief and rescue. After taking cognizance of a media report, vacation judge Tarlok Chauhan ordered registration of a public interest litigation.
The judge observed, ‘in case the water has been discharge without any warning as alleged, the prima-facie, it is established that it is not only a case of callousness, but a case of grave negligence on the part of the project authorities.”
Justice Chauhan also noted, “it cannot be said to be an error of judgement or accident as much as it was the duty of the authorities to have atleast issued warning and resorted to the usual and common method blaring the siren so as to ensure evacuation of the river bank before discharging of water.”