Sushant Sanjay Patil and Ors. v. the Union of India Thr. Secretary and Ors.

Bombay HC15 Jul 2024PIL/84/2024

Case brief

AI extract

What is this about?

PIL disposed; flood and water logging Kolhapur Sangli; Krishna River dam water management; Disaster Management Act 2005; District Disaster Management Authority; NDRF rescue team boats tents; rehabilitation of 2019 and 2021 flood victims; financial aid at par with Karnataka; action against negligent officers; omnibus prayers not adjudicable by courts; representation to Chief Secretary; limits of writ jurisdiction in policy matters.

What did the court decide?

Liberty to petitioners to make an appropriate and exhaustive representation/application to the Chief Secretary of the State Government, who shall look into the same and take appropriate decision to minimize the ill-effects of floods and water logging in Kolhapur and Sangli districts. ¶¶28

Sushant Sanjay Patil and Ors. Vs the Union of India Thr. Secretary and Ors. — Bombay HC (2024) — LawSathi Research

What the court decided

AI extract

Outcome

¶¶28

Issue for consideration

Whether the Court can adjudicate and grant the omnibus prayers in the PIL seeking directions on flood management, action against officers, dam water management on the Krishna River, Disaster Management Act compliance, financial aid, NDRF deployment and rehabilitation in Kolhapur and Sangli districts.

¶¶11

Court's answer

The prayers in the PIL are omnibus in nature and cannot be appropriately adjudicated and granted by the Courts.

¶¶24

Ratio / Principle

Petitioners are permitted to take up the issues raised in the petition by making an appropriate and exhaustive representation/application to the Chief Secretary of the State Government, who shall look into the same and take appropriate decision to minimize the ill-effects of floods and water logging in Kolhapur and Sangli districts.

¶¶27

Key takeaways

The PIL petition is disposed of with the aforesaid observations.ratio¶¶28

Detailed headnote1 paragraphs

Bombay High Court (Upadhyaya, CJ. and Borkar, J.) disposed of a 2024 public interest litigation concerning annual floods and water logging in districts Kolhapur and Sangli. The petition sought, among other things, a workable solution to tackle floods, action against responsible officers, management of dam water in the Krishna River and its tributaries, enforcement of disaster management plans under the Disaster Management Act 2005, financial aid at par with Karnataka, availability of NDRF rescue teams, and rehabilitation of persons affected by the 2019 and 2021 floods. Holding the prayers so omnibus that adjudication was not possible, the Court ruled that such prayers cannot be appropriately adjudicated and granted by the Courts, and instead permitted the petitioners to submit an appropriate and exhaustive representation/application to the Chief Secretary of the State Government, who shall look into the matter and take appropriate decision to minimize the ill-effects of floods and water logging. The PIL petition was accordingly disposed of.

¶1

401-PIL.84.2024

¶2

Jvs.

¶3

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION

¶4

PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION NO. 84 OF 2024

¶5

Adv. Sushant Sanjay Patil & Ors. } Petitioners versus The Union of India & Ors. } Respondents

¶6

Mr. Anand S. Patil for petitioners.

¶7

Mr. P. P. Kakade, Government Pleader with Mr. O. A. Chandurkar, Additional Government Pleader and Ms. G. R. Raghuwanshi, AGP for respondents 2, 3 and 5 to 8.

¶8

CORAM: DEVENDRA KUMAR UPADHYAYA, CJ. & AMIT BORKAR, J.

¶9

DATE: 15^th JULY 2024

¶10

P.C.:

¶11

1. This PIL petition, though expresses concerns which may be genuine in nature on account of floods annually being caused in districts Kolhapur and Sangli, however, the prayers made in the petition are so omnibus in nature that for the Court it is not possible to adjudicate the issues raised and the prayers made in the petition. The prayer clause of the PIL petition is extracted hereunder: -

¶12

“(a) Be issue Rule;

¶13

(b) This Hon’ble Court be pleased to call for relevant record and proceedings from the office of Respondents and after going through the legality, validity and propriety of the same, may direct the Respondents to take out certain & workable solution to tackle with the episode of calamity of flood and

¶14

¶15

401-PIL.84.2024

¶16

water logging in the Sangli and Kolhapur district if the similar situation would have been arose like 2019 & 2021.

¶17

(c) This Hon’ble Court be pleased to further direct respondents to take action against the responsible officers, public servants and other responsible persons who failed in their duty to tackle the flood situation & failed in their duty to take all the precautionary measures to deal with the flood situation in accordance with law and punish them accordingly.

¶18

(d) This Hon’ble Court be pleased to further direct the Respondents to make proper management of dam water in Krishna River and also its tributaries in Kolhapur, Sangli and other District so that henceforth no such water logging and flood should cause due to administrative lapses and in violation of rules.

¶19

(e) This Hon’ble Court be pleased to direct the District Disaster Management Authority formed in each district of Sangli and Kolhapur to act upon in accordance with Disaster Management Acct 2005 and execute the disaster management plan strictly in compliance thereto.

¶20

(f) This Hon’ble Court be pleased to direct the respondent no. 2 to grant appropriate financial aid and assistance to the flood affected people in Kolhapur and Sangli District to the extent at par with Karnataka Government considering the losses suffered by the People.

¶21

(g) This Hon’ble Court be pleased to direct the respondents no. 1, 2, 4 and 5 to consider & implement the suggestions given by the Shirol Taluka Purgrast Anyay Niwaran Sangharsh Samiti by way of precautionary measures to tackle with the issue of massive water logging and flood.

¶22

(h) This Hon’ble Court be pleased to direct the respondents no. 1, 2, 4 and 5 to make available NDRF rescue team in the Kolhapur & Sangli District right from the rainy season with all requirements equipments like boats, tents, etc. with them.

¶23

(i) This Hon’ble Court be pleased to direct the respondents no. 1, 2, 4 and 5 to rehabilitate the people who have sufffered loss in the massive flood situation arose in the year 2019 and 2021 in the Kolhapur and Sangli district.”

¶24

2. The petitioners are, thus, seeking a direction to the State Government authorities to find out some workable solution to meet the challenges being posed by the calamities of floods and water logging. Thus, the prayers, in our opinion, cannot be appropriately adjudicated and granted by the Courts.

¶25

¶26

401-PIL.84.2024

¶27

3. Accordingly, we permit the petitioners to take up the issues raised in this petition by making an appropriate and exhaustive representation/application to the Chief Secretary of the State Government, who shall look into the same and take appropriate decision to minimize the ill-effects of floods and water logging in the districts aforesaid.

¶28

4. With the aforesaid observations, the PIL petition is disposed of.

¶29

Digitally signed by JAYANT JAYANT VISHWANATH VISHWANATH SALUNKE SALUNKE Date: 2024.07.15 17:12:28 +0530

¶30

(AMIT BORKAR, J.) (CHIEF JUSTICE)

¶31

Sushant Sanjay Patil and Ors. v. the Union of India Thr. Secretary and Ors.

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

Sushant Sanjay Patil and Ors. v. the Union of India Thr. Secretary and Ors.

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

Why is it important?

What the court decided

Issues for consideration

Statutes considered

Parties & counsel

Coram

Case details

Similar cases

Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar National Asso. of Engineers, Nagpur Thr. President, Methaji S. Bhaladhare vs the State of Maha., Thr. Principal Secretary, Higher and Tech. Education Dept., Mumbai and Ors.

Sandeep Mohanlal Pahuja vs Chief Settlement Commissioner and Ors.

Vaibhav Vyankatrao Kamble vs the State of Maharashtra through the Secretary

Kailas Gajanan Somase and Ors. vs the State of Maharashtra Thr Its Chief Secretary and Ors.

Suhas Hari Pingle vs Union of India through Ministry of Health and Family Welfare

Ramesh Dhondiba Parhad vs State of Maharashtra Thr Urban Development Dept. and Ors.

Prof Dr. Nikhil D. Datar vs State of Maharashtra Thr the Chief Secretary and Ors.

Dipak Atmaram Shirodkar vs State of Maharashtra Throu. Govt Pleader and Ors.

Shri Sai Works Th Its Partner Ravi Kiran Ramakant Sawant vs Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited, Mumbai Region Vasudha Bhavan (Ongc)

Nainesh Sanghvi and Ors. vs the State of Maharashtra Throu. the Office of Govt Pleader and Ors.

Union of India Thr the Secretary of Ministry of Defence vs Yojana Nitin Urankar

Singh Intelligence Security Pvt. Ltd. vs the State of Maharashtra through Government Pleader

Urmila Co-Operative Housing Society Ltd. vs M/S. Kamala Construction and Ors.

Shahaji Madhukar Jadhav vs Alicon Castalloy Ltd.