The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to the Centre on a public interest litigation petition highlighting the misery caused by the recent floods in Assam and seeking a direction to evolve a permanent mechanism for flood management.
A three-judge Bench of Chief Justice Altamas Kabir and Justices S.S. Nijjar and J. Chelameswar also issued notice on the petition to Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.
The Bench asked Attorney General G.E. Vahanvati to render assistance in this matter.
The petitioner, Prodyut K. Bora, general secretary of Assam unit of the BJP, said it was necessary to evolve an innovative judicial response for ameliorating the current and recurrent fury of nature and for alleviating the untold misery and devastation caused by the recent floods.
The recurrent floods in Assam and north-eastern States was more due to lack of flood management mechanism and less due to natural events. He said the people of Assam in particular were being driven to the wall and resign themselves to fact that they had no other go but to bear and suffer the agony, which was caused by administrative indifference.
This year the floods during June-July reached catastrophic levels uprooting 22 lakh people apart from causing extensive damage to property, livestock and agriculture in the State.
