India’s top court slams ‘lackadaisical’ approach of Uttarakhand govt in tackling forest fires

India's Supreme Court on Wednesday (May 15) slammed the Uttarakhand government over its "lackadaisical" approach while tacking raging forest fires in the state.

The top court was hearing a plea on the forest fires in the northern state. A Forest Department bulletin revealed that the fires have affected more than 1,437 hectares of green cover since November.

A bench of Justices BR Gavai, SVN Bhatti and Sandeep Mehta said that the State's approach to controlling forest fires was not up to the mark.

The Court asked the counsel, who appeared for Uttarakhand, "Why have you employed the forest fire staff on election duty amidst fire?"

According to a state official, the election duty was over and the Chief Secretary had directed them not to put any official on poll duty.

"It's a sorry state of affairs. You are only making excuses," the bench responded.

The top court also raised the matter of a huge vacancy in the state's forest department, stating that it must be handled.

"There is a huge fire and 40 per cent of the forest is under fire. This is undoused," advocate Parmeshwar told the court.

The counsel for Uttarakhand responded to the claim, stating that there were no new fires. Notably, the recent rains in several sections of the state gave much-needed relief from forest fires. Local reports said that there were no new incidents reported in the last few days.

The top court also demanded an explanation from the state administration as to why funds provided by the central last year were not fully utilised.

The government counsel claimed that the state government had not received funds from the Centre to fight the forest fire.

He said, "Funding is a huge issue now. Had there been proper funding, the situation would have been better. The Centre has to chip in to help the state."

The apex court in 2021 agreed to examine pleas asking the Uttarakhand government to take measures to prevent the occurrence of forest fires causing large-scale destruction of flora and fauna in the hill state.

(With inputs from agencies)