To find the bodies not recovered since the 2013 Kedarnath disaster, the Uttarakhand high court has directed formation of a committee comprising experts from Archaeological Survey of India, Survey of India, Wadia Institute of Himlayana Geology and the State Disaster Response Force. The court directed that the committee should make its report public so that the people can also get information. Hearing a public interest litigation on this matter, the bench comprising acting chief justice Ravi Malimath and justice NS Dhanik directed that the whole case be investigated and a report be submitted in the court in two months. The PIL was disposed of by the court.
During the hearing on Friday, the Government assured the court that all necessary steps will be taken to find the bodies missing since the 2013 Kedarnath disaster. It will be recalled that Delhi resident Ajay Gautam had filed a public interest litigation in the high court stating that about 4,200 persons had gone missing in the Kedarnath valley after the 2013 disaster whereas the skeletal remains of only 600 could be found. Years after the disaster, the remains of 3,600 bodies still remain buried in the valley with the Government not doing anything to recover these.
The petitioner had sought that the government take up this matter seriously, remove the remains and get the last rites done.