The Madras High Court has decided to hear a public interest litigation petition on the recent flooding in Chennai and its suburbs on Wednesday along with a suo motu proceeding initiated by the court on a similar issue.
An industrialist, Rajiv Rai, had moved the court alleging that wilful delay in releasing water from the Chembarambakkam reservoir had caused the flooding and prayed for a direction to appoint a high-power committee headed by a retired judge of the Supreme Court to ascertain the causes for the flooding. “The court should form an independent committee to investigate into this matter and punish the officials for failure to perform their duty as it amounted to nothing short of manslaughter,” the petitioner contended. The probe committee must comprise government officials, technical persons, senior lawyers, scientists and environmentalists, he pleaded. When the petition came up for hearing before First Bench comprising Chief Justice S.K. Kaul and Justice Puspha Sathyanarayana on Tuesday, the Bench said the plea would be heard along with a suo motu proceeding initiated by it on a similar issue which is scheduled to be heard on Wednesday.
“Court should form an independent committee to investigate
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT