In a public interest litigation filed regarding the hooch tragedy in Haridwar district and Saharanpur (Uttar Pradesh), the high court of Uttarakhand has sought a reply from the inspector general (Garhwal) in three weeks regarding the action taken. The case was taken up for hearing by the division bench of chief justice Ramesh Ranganathan and justice NS Dhanik.
According to the case details, Kashipur resident Pramod Sharma had filed a PIL in the high court stating that more than three dozen people had died after consumption of spurious liquor recently but the state government has not taken any concrete action against those involved in the brewing and sale of spurious liquor. A day before the PIL was filed, the State government had formed a five-member SIT under the IG (Garhwal) and after the PIL was filed the Haridwar district excise officer and about a dozen other officers were suspended.
During the hearing, question was also raised about the fault of the suspended officials. After hearing the case, the division bench directed the IG (Garhwal) to present a report within three weeks on the action taken so far in the case.