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Supreme Court Hearing: The Supreme Court rejected the petition seeking guidelines to reduce damage from earthquake. The top court said that it is the responsibility of the government, it is not right for the judiciary to interfere. The bench said that these are all policy matters which the government should take care of.
New Delhi. The Supreme Court on Friday rejected a petition seeking to issue guidelines to reduce the damage caused by earthquakes. During the hearing, the court made a sharp comment on the demand of the petition and said that interference of the judiciary on such issues is not appropriate. The petitioner told the court that about 75 percent of the country’s population lives in areas with high seismic risk. On this, the bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta asked, ‘So is the solution that we settle everyone on the moon?’
The petitioner argued that India should increase preparedness by learning from the recent major earthquake in Japan. The top court replied that the geographical conditions of the two countries are different. The court said, “First we have to find volcanoes here, then comparisons can be made with Japan.” The apex court made it clear that it is not possible to stop natural events like earthquakes and such petitions involve matters beyond the scope of the court.
The responsibility of reducing losses is on the government
The petitioner said that in case of an earthquake, the authorities should make arrangements to reduce the damage. The bench said, “This is the responsibility of the government; this court cannot handle it. The petition is dismissed.” At the beginning of the hearing, the petitioner said that recently many information has come which is relevant to his petition. The bench said that these are all policy matters which the government should take care of. When the petitioner cited some media reports, the bench said, ‘These are newspaper reports. We have nothing to do with them.
