HYDERABAD: A division bench of the Hyderabad High Court on Monday refused to pass any order on a public interest litigation filed seeking declaration as illegal the central government not engaging the defence forces, particularly the naval forces, for recovery of 24 dead bodies of the engineering students of VNR Vignana Jyothi Institute of Engineering and Technology, Hyderabad who have lost their lives due to sudden release of water from the Larji dam in Himachal Pradesh.
Petitioner PV Krishnaiah, a practising advocate of the city, filed the PIL contending that the inaction of the Centre to engage defence forces, particularly the Navy, as arbitrary, illegal and violation of Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution apart from public and national interest.
Assistant solicitor-general P Vishnuvardhan Reddy said that the Centre had already deployed defence personnel including naval forces for recovering the bodies of the students. Eight bodies were recovered and the massive search operations were still going on, he added.
Reacting to submissions of the Centre, the bench pointed out that it was the duty and responsibility of the Centre and the local government to act in accordance with the circumstances that warranted deployment of the forces and personnel to carry out search operations.
The bench said that the court cannot intervene in it and closed the case.