The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined an urgent hearing on the sinking incidents in Uttarakhand’s Joshimath town and posted the matter for January 16, Live Law reported.
Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud said, “Everything which is important need not come to us. There are democratically elected institutions to see this. We’ll keep it on 16th.”
On Monday, a bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha asked advocate Parmeshwar Nath Mishra, appearing for Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati, who mentioned out of turn for urgent listing of the plea, to follow the process and again mention on Tuesday.
The petitioner had sought the court’s intervention to declare the Joshimath crisis a national disaster.
The seer had contended that sudden huge cracks that appeared in several houses in Joshimath, the gateway to known pilgrimage sites of Badrinath and Hemkund Sahib, occurred due to large-scale industrialisation. He also sought financial assistance and compensation for those affected.
The state government on Sunday officially declared Joshimath as a landslide-subsidence zone.