The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused urgent hearing of a plea seeking the court's intervention to declare the crisis in Uttarakhand's Joshimath a national disaster, saying there are “democratically elected institutions” to deal with the situation and all important matters should not come to it. A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice P S Narasimha listed the plea of Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati of Joshimath for hearing on January 16.
Advocate Parmeshwar Nath Mishra, appearing for the Swami, mentioned the plea and sought its urgent listing for Wednesday. “Everything important need not come to us. There are democratically elected institutions to look into it. We will list it on January 16,” the CJI said. The lawyer had mentioned the plea also on Monday for urgent listing. "Mention again on Tuesday after following the due process when your matter is in the mentioning list," the bench had said.