Overview

• Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta issued the directive in a suo motu case examining landslides and floods that battered Himachal during this monsoon.
• The court adopted an amicus-curiae questionnaire under nine heads seeking details on climate policy, disaster planning, zoning, highways, hydropower, forests and afforestation, mining, tourism, and prosecutions.
• The state must submit affidavit-backed answers signed by the Principal Secretary of the Forest Department, with an advance copy to the amicus curiae, by October 28.
• The order notes unprecedented rainfall causing havoc and records the court’s view that human activity drives persistent landslides, collapsing buildings, and subsiding roads.
• Requested data include 20 years of disaster-fund allocations and use, four-lane highway counts and landslide impacts, hydropower projects by river and start date, tree-cover and felling records, mining leases, and permits for hotels and short-term rentals over the past decade.