The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a plea seeking the court’s intervention to declare the crisis in Uttarakhand’s subsidence-hit Joshimath a national disaster, saying since the State High Court is seized of a “broad range of issues” it should hear it as a matter of principle. As the lawyer for the petitioner submitted that people in Joshimath are dying, the top court told him curtly,”You don’t want to use these proceedings for sound bytes in social media.”
A bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices P S Narasimha and J B Pardiwala asked petitioner Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati to approach the Uttarakhand High Court with his petition. “As a matter of principle, we should allow the High Court to deal with this. HC is seized of a broad range of issues, we’ll give you liberty to approach the High Court.
The counsel for the Uttarakhand Government submitted all the points raised by the petitioner have already been acted upon. Senior advocate Sushil Kumar Jain, appearing for the petitioner, said people are dying and urgent steps are needed for relief and rehabilitation of those affected by ground subsidence. The bench then remarked,”You don’t want to use these proceedings for sound bytes in social media, what you want is relief for affected persons.” The apex court asked the petitioner to approach the High Court with his petition.