The State government on Wednesday sought two months time to constitute an advisory committee under the Disaster Management Act as per the directions of the Madras High Court.
The First Bench of Chief Justice S.K. Kaul and Justice R. Mahadevan on September 7 directed the government to constitute the advisory committee, which would provide suggestions on flood management, within 15 days.
The Bench passed the interim direction on a batch of PIL petitions that sought to find out the reasons for last year’s floods and to remove encroachment on waterbodies across the city.
When the pleas came up for hearing on Wednesday, B. Chandramohan, Secretary to the Revenue Department, submitted an affidavit stating that in the process of complying with the directions of the High Court, 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.
“Academic/ research institutions have also been requested to suggest experts for the committee. After receiving nominations, the government will take a decision to constitute the committee as early as possible. As this process involves various agencies and field of expertise, it will take some time to decide,” the officer said.
Citing the circumstances, he sought the court to grant extension of time for two months to comply with the court direction.
Recording the submission, the Bench posted the pleas to October 20 for further hearing.
