Hyderabad High Court refuses to pass order against Centre

By S A Ishaqui

Hyderabad, June 17 : The Hyderabad High Court on Monday disinclined to pass any order on a PIL seeking a direction to declare the action of the Union of India as illegal in not engaging the defense forces, particularly the naval force for recovery of the 24 dead bodies of engineering students of VNR Vignana Jyothi Institute of Engineering and Technology, Hyderabad, who lost their lives due to sudden release of water from Larji Dam in Himachal Pradesh.

P.V. Krishnaiah a practicing advocate of the High Court moved the PIL contending that the action of the Centre in not engaging defense forces as arbitrary, illegal and violating Article 14, and 21 of the Constitution apart from public and national interest.

The counsel representing the Centre submitted that the Centre has already deployed the Army personnel including the naval forces for recovery of bodies of students and so far eight bodies were recovered and the massive search operation have been going on.

Reacting to submissions of the Centre, the bench pointed out that it is the duty and responsibility of the Centre and the local state government to act in accordance with the circumstances that warranted for the deployment of the forces and personnel to carry out the search operations and the court cannot intervene into it.