Government seeks 2 months to set up flood panel

When the First bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice R Mahadevan commenced hearing a batch of writ petitions relating to the flooding that transpired last year, the Government counsel submitted the plea by Revenue Secretary Chandramohan seeking more time to form the committee. 

Chandramohan had contended that as per the directions of the Madras High Court, the various Government Departments have been requested to nominate suitable experts who have expertise in the field of disaster management and having first-hand experience in handling disasters. Along with this, academic and research institutions have also been requested to suggest experts for the Advisory Committee. 

Hence, after receiving the nominations, the Government will take a decision to constitute the advisory committee and as this process involves various agencies, it will take some time to decide, he added and sought for two months from September 22 to comply with the court direction. 

It may be noted that the High court in its earlier order had held that “We are of the view that in the given situation we are faced with, it becomes necessary to constitute an advisory committee under section 17 of the Disaster Management Act. This would not only give the benefit of experts’ view, but also facilitate inputs to b e taken from different sources, including the petitioners who are willing to do so. Such a committee may thus be constituted within 15 days and the petitioners may give their respective inputs to the committee. 

The Bench also on hearing as many as 15 petitions, pertaining to being relocated from the various river banks like Adayar and Buckingham sought the registry to list them along with the main plea, scheduled to be heard on October 20.