Chandigarh: The Punjab and Haryana High Court has refused to intervene immediately in a public interest litigation (PIL) concerning the recent floods in Punjab, stressing that government officers are presently occupied with relief operations.
A division bench of Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Sanjiv Berry observed that any direction at this stage would pull officials away from urgent ground duties. The Court noted that such intervention would risk diverting resources needed to manage the ongoing crisis.
Bench Emphasizes Relief Priorities
“The officers are right now dealing with the ground situation. They will have to sit down and file an affidavit for this. We don’t want to do that,” the bench remarked. It added that court proceedings at this stage would unnecessarily detach officials from flood relief to prepare responses for litigation.
The petitioners alleged that the floods were aggravated by government mismanagement and that ongoing relief efforts were inadequate. However, the Court was not convinced and adjourned the matter to next week, aligning it with similar petitions on the floods.
Government Defends Efforts
During the hearing, Additional Solicitor General Satya Pal Jain asserted that both the Centre and Punjab government were making every effort to provide relief. “Government of India, State of Punjab … we are doing our best. Yesterday, the Agriculture Minister was there. This is not the time to raise this issue,” he submitted.
Counsel for the Punjab government further pointed out that the Supreme Court had already taken cognizance of the flood situation in a related case heard on Thursday. Earlier, on September 2, the High Court had also declined to pass orders on a similar PIL seeking court-monitored relief and rehabilitation measures.
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