Joshimath sinking: Don't use proceedings for social media sound-bytes, Supreme Court says to petitioner

The Supreme Court on Monday disposed of a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking the top court's intervention in the matter of cracks developing in houses and roads of Joshimath in Uttarakhand. (Jagatguru Shankaracharya Jyotirmath Jyotishpeethadheeshwar Shri Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswari Ji Maharaj Anjani Kumar Mishra v. Union of India and ors).A Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala said it could not deprive the Uttarakhand High Court from hearing the matter, and asked the petitioner to either file a fresh plea or intervene in the proceedings there. When counsel submitted that people were dying and in dire need of rehabilitation, the CJI remarked,"Please do not use the proceedings for sound bytes to the social media. Are you suggesting that the prayers made by you are beyond scope of Article 226? Over and above this, if you have something to say in addition, you have liberty to move the High Court...Once we start hearing this, we will deprive the High Court an opportunity to hear the case.".Counsel for the Uttarakhand government today pointed out that the State had acted on the contentions in the petition. "Whether you have been proactive to contain this is based on our assessment and intervention. But if the High Court is seized of it then we cannot intervene," the Chief Justice of India made it clear. Counsel for the petitioner argued that people are being shifted to the homes that also have cracks."The State has been asked to strictly enforce the ban on construction in Joshimath area. The relief sought under Article 32 substantially overlaps with proceedings before the High Court which it is seized of...The petitioner here can intervene in the pending proceedings before the High Court or file a fresh plea. We request the High Court to consider the petition filed with reasonable dispatch," the apex court ordered. .Joshimath, which has a population of around 17,000, is located in the Chamoli district of Uttarakhand at a height of 1,800 meters above sea level. It has has been declared disaster-prone after cracks started appearing in nearly 5,000 buildings and even on roads recently.The plea filed by Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati sought intervention of the Court to ensure immediate financial assistance and compensation to residents.However, the Court last week refused to grant urgent hearing in the petition seeking its intervention in the matter. It said that in a democratic country, everything of urgency does not have to come to the apex court, as there are democratically elected institutions to look into it.The Uttarakhand government had informed the Delhi High Court on Thursday that two committees have been formed to look into rehabilitation and mitigation efforts in the disaster-prone town..[Follow our coverage of today's hearing]