SUPREME COURT ON DISASTER MANAGEMENT ACT

Nimesh Das Guru

Abstract

Unique topographic and climatic characteristics makes Indian sub-continent particularly susceptible to different
kinds of disaster. Despite regularly losing large amount of wealth and human lives due to disaster related tragedy,
India had no institutionalized framework to deal with disaster. The traditional approach had been towards providing
‘calamity relief’ post disaster as a non-plan item of expenditure. It was Gujarat earthquake of 2001 that brought a
paradigm shift in the disaster management from ‘relief centric’ approach in the past to the current holistic one.
Disaster Management Act 2005 was passed with an aim to provide for an effective management of disaster. This
Act envisaged establishment of multi tier institutions to deal with disaster in a systematic way. However, even after
several years of its enactment, government made no sincere efforts towards faithful implementation of the
provisions of the Disaster Management Act. Several petitions were filed before Supreme Court of India with a
prayer that direction should be given to government for implementing provisions of the Disaster Management Act. It
was only after Supreme Court started passing series of directions in different public interest litigations that woke
government up from its lethargy and they took steps towards implanting all provisions of the Disaster Management
Act. This paper gives a chronological account of those PILs in which Supreme Court of India has passed directions
for faithfully implementing the provisions of Disaster Management Act, 2005.

Keywords: Disaster, Disaster Management, Supreme Court, Implementation, Public Interest

Litigation

I Introduction

INDIAN PENINSULA is rich in geographical diversity but this advantage also makes it
vulnerable to all kind of natural disaster.1 Around 58.6 percent of Indian landmass is prone to


Assistant Professor (Law), Lloyd Law College, Greater Noida
1
Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, National Policy on Disaster Management, 2009, Nidm.gov.in
(2019), available at http://nidm.gov.in/easindia2014/err/pdf/country_profile/India.pdf (last visited Jan 16, 2019);
Also see Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, Disaster Management of India, Undp.org (2019),
(available at http://www.undp.org/content/dam/india/docs/disaster_management_in_india.pdf (last visited Jan 17,
2019).

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earthquake of moderate to high intensity.2 Over 40 million hectares of its land is prone to floods
and river erosion, further around 7,516 km of coastlines makes it vulnerable to cyclone and
tsunamis.3 Additionally, India has regularly witnessed cycles of droughts, landslides and
avalanches in hilly areas.4 Rapid industrial growth and massive urbanization without planning
has also made India more vulnerable to manmade disaster.5 With the establishment of nuclear
power plant now even Fukushima sort of Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) emergencies can
also take place.6 According to a data published in International Disaster Database, in the last 18
years, India has suffered more than 300 natural disasters resulting in 76,031 death, in addition to
loss of Rs 4,06,035 crore of wealth.7

Despite regular occurrence of natural as well as manmade disaster, India had no proper
framework to deal with disaster. Though, the industrial disaster of leaking of toxic chemical
gases from the Union Carbide chemical plant in the city of Bhopal in 1984 causing thousands of
death expedited the enactment of the first environment specific legislation in India,8 still, the
approach of the government in cases of disasters was more towards providing calamity relief
after the occurrence of the disaster. It was the earthquake in Gujarat in 2001 that led Indian
government to realize the importance of a dedicated agency for disaster management.9 Report of
the Tenth planning commission of India has for the first time a separate chapter on disaster
management.10 The Twelfth Finance Commission report also contained a review of financial
arrangement for Disaster Management.11 Finally, in 2005, a central legislation namely Disaster
Management Act, 2005 (DM Act in short) was passed by parliament to create National Disaster

2
Ibid.
3
Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, National Disaster Management Plan, 2016, Ndma.gov.in (2019),
available at https://ndma.gov.in/images/guidelines/national-dm-policy2009.pdf (last visited Jan 16, 2019)
4
I Ibid.
5
I Ibid.
6
G. Sundarrajan v. Union of India (2013) 6 SCC 620, See at Para 18 where the concern for such kind of disaster is
discussed.
7
DATA STORY: Over 75,000 deaths, Rs 4 lakh crore lost - the cost of natural disasters in India since 2000, Money
control, available at https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/india/data-story-over-75000-deaths-rs-4-lakh-crore-lost-
the-cost-of-natural-disasters-in-india-since-2000-2456611.html (last visited Jan 17, 2019)
8
Syed Ussain Saheb et al., Environment and Their Legal Issues in India, 1(3) International Research Journal of
Environment Sciences, 44–51 (2012), available at http://www.isca.in/IJENS/Archive/v1/i3/8.ISCA-IRJEvsS-2012-
043.pdf (last visited Jan 17, 2019)
9
Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, Evolution of NDMA Urban Floods - National Disaster
Management Authority, available at https://ndma.gov.in/en/about-ndma/evolution-of-ndma.html (last visited Jan 17,
2019)
10
Ibid.
11
Ibid.

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Management Authority (NDMA), headed by the Prime Minister, and State Disaster Management
Authorities (SDMAs) headed by respective Chief Ministers, “to spearhead and implement a
holistic and integrated approach to Disaster Management in India.”12

It is now 12 years since Disaster Management Act, 2005 came into force.13 Section 71 of
Disaster Management Act bars all other courts except High Court and Supreme Court from
entertaining any suit or proceeding in respect of anything done, action taken, orders made,
direction, instruction or guidelines issued by the Central Government, National Authority, State
Government, State Authority or District Authority in pursuance of any power conferred by, or in
relation to its functions, by Disaster Management Act.14

In the last 12 years, in several Public Interest Litigations (in short PIL), questions have been
raised on the government’s lackadaisical approach towards implementing the provisions of the
DM Act. Supreme Court and High Courts of different states have passed several orders ranging
from granting relief to people suffering from disaster to giving directions to government for truly
implementing the provisions of the Act. This short article gives a chronological account of those
PILs in which Supreme Court of India has passed directions for faithfully implementing the
provisions of Disaster Management Act, 2005. The major thrust of this short article is to show
that Supreme Court of India has been constantly monitoring the implementation of this Act.

Section I of this short article gives a brief description of the background and the various
provisions of the Act. Section II of the article comprises of the analysis of the different orders,
directions and judgments pronounced by the Supreme Court on the working of the provisions of
DM Act. The last and third section is the conclusion in the form of a postscript.

II A brief description of the DM Act

As mentioned above the idea of creating a dedicated institutional framework for the management
of disaster emerged after Gujarat earthquake of 2001.15 The High Power Committee set up by

12
Ibid.
13
See Para 34 infra Note 40.
14
Disaster Management Act, 2005 (Act 53 of 2005) s. 71
15
See Supra note 9.

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central government in 1999 and National Committee after the Gujarat earthquake, 2001 were
asked to submit a report for making recommendations on the preparation of Disaster
Management plans and to suggest effective mitigation mechanisms.16 Tenth Five year plan also
had a separate chapter dedicated on disaster Management.17 Finally, a Disaster Management Act
2005 comprising of 11 chapters and 79 sections was enacted by parliament of India. It came into
force in 2006.18 This Act envisaged establishment of National Disaster Management Authority
(NDMA), headed by the Prime Minister, and State Disaster Management Authorities (SDMAs)
headed by respective Chief Ministers, to spearhead and implement a holistic and integrated
approach to Disaster Management in India.19 It also established District Disaster Management
Authorities headed by District Collector as the Chairperson.

The purpose of the Act was to provide for the effective management of disasters and for matters
connected therewith or incidental thereto.20

Section 2(d) of the Act defined disaster “as a catastrophe, mishap, calamity or grave occurrence
in any area, arising from natural or manmade causes, or by accident or negligence which results
in substantial loss of life or human suffering or damage to, and destruction of, property, or
damage to, or degradation of, environment, and is of such a nature or magnitude as to be beyond
the coping capacity of the community of the affected area”.21

‘Disaster Management’ is defined as “a continuous and integrated process of planning,

organizing, coordinating and implementing measures which are necessary or expedient to
prevent danger or threat of any disaster, mitigation or reduce the risk or severity or
consequences of any disaster, capacity-building and preparedness to deal with any disaster,
prompt response to any threatening disaster situation or disaster, assessing the severity or

16
Ibid.
17
Ibid.The Report is available on http://planningcommission.nic.in/plans/planrel/fiveyr/10th/volume1/v1_ch7.pdf
(last visited Jan 17, 2019)
18
Supra note 13.
19
Supra note 12.
20
See the ‘Statement of Aim’ of Disaster Management Act, Disaster Management Act, 2005 (Act 53 of 2005)
21
Disaster Management Act, 2005 (Act 53 of 2005) s 2(d)

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magnitude of effects of any disaster, evacuation, rescue and relief, rehabilitation and
reconstruction.”22

Institutions under the Act

As mentioned above the idea behind the passing of the Disaster Management Act, 2005 was to
provide for a permanent institutional framework that would not only provide relief after the
occurrence of disaster but also function regularly to suggest how to effectively mitigate the
occurrence of disaster. The Act provide for a multi tier institutional framework in this direction.23

NDMA
At the national level a National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) was established. It
was to be headed by Prime Minister of India as the Chairperson and other members not
exceeding nine. NDMA, as the apex body, is mandated to lay down the policies, plans and
guidelines for Disaster Management to ensure timely and effective response to disasters.
Towards this, it has the following responsibilities:-24
▪ Lay down policies on disaster management ;
▪ Approve the National Plan;
▪ Approve plans prepared by the Ministries or Departments of the Government of India in
accordance with the National Plan;
▪ Lay down guidelines to be followed by the State Authorities in drawing up the State Plan;
▪ Lay down guidelines to be followed by the different Ministries or Departments of the
Government of India for the Purpose of integrating the measures for prevention of
disaster or the mitigation of its effects in their development plans and projects;
▪ Coordinate the enforcement and implementation of the policy and plans for disaster
management;
▪ Recommend provision of funds for the purpose of mitigation;

22
Disaster Management Act, 2005 (Act 53 of 2005) s 2(e)
23
See Executive Summary, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, National Disaster Management Plan,
May 2016 available at
https://ndma.gov.in/images/policyplan/dmplan/National%20Disaster%20Management%20Plan%20May%202016.p
df (last visited Jan 17, 2019)
24
Functions and Responsibilities National Disaster Management Authority, https://ndma.gov.in/en/about-
ndma/roles-responsibilities.html (last visited Jan 17, 2019)

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 ▪ Provide such support to other countries affected by major disasters as may be determined
by the Central Government;
▪ Take such other measures for the prevention of disaster, or the mitigation, or
preparedness and capacity building for dealing with threatening disaster situations or
disasters as it may consider necessary;
▪ Lay down broad policies and guidelines for the functioning of the National Institute of
Disaster Management.

National executive committee

National Executive Committee consisting of experts in the field of disaster management having
practical experience of disaster management at the National, State and District level was
constituted to assist the National Authority as an advisory committee.25 The National Executive
Committee is further empowered to constitute one or more sub-committees, for the efficient
discharge of its functions. The Committee is entrusted to prepare a national plan for disaster
management which is to be reviewed and updated annually.26

National plan
Under Section 11 of the DM Act, National Authority has to draw a National Disaster
Management Plan (NDMA) for disaster management for the whole of India27. The purpose of the
NDMP is to provide a framework and direction to the government agencies for all phases of
disaster management cycle. It is to be prepared in accordance with provisions of the DM Act
2005 and guidance given in National Policy on Disaster Management. It is supposed to be a
“dynamic document” because it is to be “periodically improved keeping up with the emerging
global best practices and knowledge base in disaster management”.28 The Plan has to be flexible
and scalable so that it can be applied in all phases of disaster management that is “a) mitigation

25
Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, Training Programme on Flood Risk Management, June, 2018,
available at http://nidm.gov.in/PDF/trgreports/2018/June/11-15_nidm.pdf (last visited Jan 17, 2019))
26
PM interacts with members of Self Help Groups across the country through video bridge,
http://pib.nic.in/newsite/mbErel.aspx?relid=171461 (last visited Jan 17, 2019)
27
Disaster Management Act, 2005 (Act 53 of 2005) s 11
28
Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, National Disaster Management Plan, May 2016 available at
https://ndma.gov.in/images/policyplan/dmplan/National%20Disaster%20Management%20Plan%20May%202016.p
df (last visited Jan 17, 2019)

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(prevention and risk reduction), b) preparedness, c) response and d) recovery (immediate
restoration to build-back better).”29 Currently, NDMA has published an NDMP in 2016.

SDMA
State Governments have to establish a State Disaster Management Authority for the State. The
State Authority is to be headed by the Chief Minister of the State as the Chairperson and such
number of other members, not exceeding nine. The State Authority can constitute an advisory
committee as and when it considers necessary to, consisting of experts in the field of disaster
management. The task of the State Authority is to formulate the State Disaster Management
Policy, approve the State Plan in accordance with the guidelines laid down by the National
Authority.30

Supreme Court has played a very important role in expediting the process of constitution of State
Disaster Management Authorities. Despite the fact that Section 14 of the DM Act clearly
required the government of respective states to form a SDMA for their state, still, it required
intervention from the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India that finally pushed the creation of
SDMA.31

State executive committee

Under Section 20 of the DM Act every state government has to constitute a State Executive
committee headed by Chief Secretary to the State Government as chairperson and four
Secretaries to the Government of the State of such departments as the State Government may
think fit.32 The State Executive Committee has to act as the coordinating and monitoring body
for management of disaster in the State and has the responsibility for implementing the National
Plan and State Plan. The State Executive Committee has adequate power to run relief work post
disaster as well as to run mitigation and control program to thwart disaster.33

District disaster management authority

29
Id
30
Disaster Management Act, 2005 (Act 53 of 2005) chapter 3
31
Infra Note 40.
32
Disaster Management Act, 2005 (Act 53 of 2005) s 20.
33
Disaster Management Act, 2005 (Act 53 of 2005) s 22.

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Every State Government has to establish a District Disaster Management Authority for every
district in the State with the District Collector as the Chairperson and such number of other
members, not exceeding seven. The District Authority has to act as the district planning,
coordinating and implementing body for disaster management and to take all measures for the
purposes of disaster management in the district in accordance with the guidelines laid down by
the National Authority and the State Authority.34

National Institute of Disaster Management

One of the most important features of the DM Act was the provision regarding constitution of a
National Disaster Management Institute (NDMI). The genesis of NDMI began when a National
Centre for Disaster Management was established in 1995 in the Indian Institute of Public
Administration (IIPA), New Delhi. Later in 2003, the same Center was upgraded to National
Institute of Disaster management (NIDM) and on 30-10-2006 it was reconstituted in accordance
with the provision under DM Act 2005.35 The main function of the NDMI is to assist
government in policy formulation. In addition to assisting government in policy formulation, it
also develop training modules, conducts research and documentation in disaster management,
organize training programmes, formulate and implement a comprehensive human resource
development plan covering all aspects of disaster management.36

National Disaster Response Force

Section 44 of DM Act provides for the constitution of a National Disaster Response Force
(NDRF) for the purpose of specialist response to a threatening disaster situation or disaster.
NDRF is headed by Director General of the National Disaster Response Force and currently
India has 12 Battalions with each Battalion consisting of 1149 personnel, a dedicated force for
disaster response related duties, under the unified command of DG NDRF.37

National disaster response fund

34
Disaster Management Act, 2005 (Act 53 of 2005) s 25.
35
Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, National Institute of Disaster Management Annual Report 2017-
18 available at http://www.nidm.gov.in/PDF/pubs/areport_17.pdf (last visited Jan 17, 2019)
36
Id
37
‘About Us’ Community Preparedness Programmes | NDRF - National Disaster Response Force,
http://www.ndrf.gov.in/about-us (last visited Jan 17, 2019)

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Section 46 (1) and section 48(1) of the DM Act stipulate constitution of the National Disaster
Response Fund (NDRF) at the national level and State Disaster Response Fund(SDRF) at state
level38. NDRF supplements SDRF of a State, in case of a disaster of severe nature, provided
adequate funds are not available in SDRF. The Central Government contributes 75% of SDRF
allocation for general category States/UTs and 90% for special category States/UTs (NE States,
Sikkim, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir)39. The Fund is made available to
the National Executive Committee to be applied to meet the expenses for emergency response,
relief and rehabilitation in accordance with the guidelines laid down by the Central Government
in consultation with the National Authority.40

III Supreme Court on DM Act

One of the first cases where Supreme Court took the cognizance of Disaster Management Act,
2005 was MCD v. Uphar Tragedy Victims Assn41. This matter arose out of an appeal filed by
Municipal Corporation of Delhi and M/s Ansal Theatre and Club hotels (P) Ltd., the owners of
Uphaar Cinema Theatre against the decision given by Delhi High Court where High Court has
held that “the theatre owner, the DVB, MCD and the licensing authority being responsible for
the incident were jointly and severally liable to compensate the victims. In the original writ
petition filed before Delhi High Court, the victims of Uphar Cinema tragic fire incident have
asked for compensation for the victims and among other relief they also asked Court to “direct
the Union of India to ensure that no cinema hall in the country is allowed to run without licence
granted after strictly observing all the mandatory conditions prescribed under the laws and to
further direct them to stop the operation of all cinema halls and to permit the operation only
after verification of the existence of a valid licence/permit by the licensing authority, under the
Cinematograph Act.42”

38
Disaster Management Act, 2005 (Act 53 of 2005) s 46(1), s 48(1)
39
Disaster Management Division, Ministry of Home Affairs Government of India | NDM India Response Fund,
http://www.ndmindia.nic.in/ (last visited Jan 17, 2019)
40
Id
41
(2011) 14 SCC 481.
42
Id. Para 75.

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In Para 73 of the judgment, R.V. Raveendran J., taking notice of the fact that Section 1(3) of the
DM Act provides that this Act will come into force on such dates as “Central Government may
by notification in the Official Gazzette appoint; and different dates may be appointed for
different provisions of the Act for different States, and any reference to commencement in any
provisions of the Act in relation to any State shall be construed as a reference to the
commencement of that provision in that State”. The Court further observed that Government of
NCT has established the Delhi Disaster Management Authority for the National Capital Territory
of Delhi by a notification dated 19-03-2008; therefore, the Act has come into force in Delhi. It
further observed that

“The key to successfully meeting the consequences of disasters is preparedness.

There can be no complacency. Human tendency is to be awake and aware in the
immediate aftermath of a disaster. But as the days pass, slowly the disaster
management equipment and disaster management personnel are allowed to slip
away from their readiness. Only when the next disaster takes place, is there a
sudden awakening. In regard to preparedness to meet disasters there could be no
let-up in the vigil. The expenditure required for maintaining a high state of alert
and readiness to meet disasters may appear to be high and wasteful regarding
“non-disaster periods” but the expenditure and readiness is absolutely must”.43

While affirming the several suggestions given by the Delhi High Court in the original
proceeding, the Supreme Court added more suggestions, and the one concerning DM Act
was that the Delhi Disaster Management Authority, established by the Government of
NCT of Delhi may expeditiously evolve standards to manage the disasters relating to
cinema theatres and the guidelines in regard to ex gratia assistance. It should be directed
to conduct mock drills in each cinema theatre at least once in a year.44

The next case where Supreme Court took note of Disaster Management Act was G.
Sundarrajan v. Union of India.45 This matter was concerned with the establishment of
setting up of a nuclear power plant in the south-eastern tip of India, at Kudankulam in the

43
Id Para 74
44
Ibid.
45
(2013) 6 SCC 620

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State of Tamil Nadu. The Court took notice of the recent incidents that has occurred in
Three Mile Island Power Plant, USA; Chernobyl, Ukraine, USSR; Fukushima, Japan;
Union Carbide, Bhopal Gas Tragedy and observed that these incident might be haunting
the memory of the people living in and around Kudankulam, leading to large-scale
agitation and emotional reaction to the setting up of the nuclear power plant (NPP) and its
commissioning.

In this case, the Court gave a detailed description of the provisions of DM Act in cases of
disaster occurring because of nuclear radiation. The Court observed that “National
Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has assumed the responsibility of strengthening
the existing nuclear/radiological emergency management framework by involving all
stakeholders in a holistic approach through a series of mutually interactive, reciprocal
and supplementary actions to be taken on the basis of a common thread—the National
Guidelines”.46

The provisions of DM Act 2005 came under observation again in Swaraj Abhiyan vs.
Union of India & Ors.47 This is a landmark judgment on DM Act because in this case
Court passed several directions to central and state government to truly implement the
provisions of DM Act. This was a public interest litigation filed by NGO Swaraj Abhiyan
to draw the attention of the apex court towards the draught like situation in the state of
Bihar, Gujarat and Haryana seeking a direction to these three States to declare a drought
and provide essential relief and compensation to people affected by the drought.

After giving a brief description of the various provisions of DM Act, the Court held that
draught is a disaster as per the definition of disaster given under 2(d) of the DM Act and
“risk assessment and risk management as well as crisis management of a drought falls
completely within the purview of the Disaster Management Act, 2005”

The Court observed that it was surprised to learn that Union of India has not yet drawn
the National Plan that was to be mandatorily prepared under Section 11 of the Act, nor
has National Disaster Mitigation Fund been set up even after 10 years of the enforcement

46
Id Para 102 to 105 .
47
2016 SCC OnLine SC 485

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of the DM Act. The Court expressed its anguish over non- implementation of Disaster
Management Act, the attention of the Court was drawn to two important documents
prepared by Union of India.

The first was the Manual for Drought Management (for short “the Manual”) prepared in
November 2009 by the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Ministry of
Agriculture in the Government of India and second was ‘National Disaster Management
Guidelines for Management of Drought’ prepared in September 2010 by the National
Disaster Management Authority of the Government of India. However, Union of India
submitted that “these documents have no binding force and are mere guidelines to be
followed, if so advised, and this was the reason why there has been constant breach of the
Manual and the Guidelines”.

The Court further observed that though declaration of drought is not a “judicially
manageable exercise and no judicially acceptable standards can be laid down for
declaring or not declaring a drought, still Court “cannot give a totally hands-off
response merely because such standards cannot be laid down for the declaration of a
drought”48. It held that in view of Article 21 courts can issue “appropriate directions
should a State Government or the Union of India fails to respond to a developing crisis
or a crisis in the making”.

In the light of above mentioned observation Court passed following directions to union
government;

A. Constitute a National Disaster Response Force within a period of six months with
an appropriate and regular cadre strength in terms of mandate given under
Section 44 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005,
B. Establish a National Disaster Mitigation Fund within a period of three months in
accordance as provided under Section 47 of Disaster Management Act, 2005,
C. Formulate a National Plan in terms of Section 11 of the Disaster Management
Act, 2005 at the very earliest and with immediate concern,

48
Id Para 62.

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 D. Revise and update “The Drought Management Manual” prepared in 2009 as per
the condition prevailing in 2016 keeping in mind;
a. the future in terms of prevention, preparedness and mitigation,
considering innovative methods of water conservation, saving and
utilization (including ground water), consulting the experts in the field,
b. Use of modern technology to make an early determination of a drought or
a drought-like situation.
E. The Secretary in the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers
Welfare, Ministry of Agriculture in the Government of India was directed to
urgently hold a meeting within a week with the Chief Secretary of Bihar, Gujarat
and Haryana to review the apparent drought situation with all the available data
and if so advised persuade the State Government to declare a drought in
whichever district, taluka, tehsil or block is necessary

In Gaurav Kumar Bansal v. Union of India49 apex court again had the opportunity to look
into the implementational aspect of Disaster Management Act, 2005. The matter was
brought before the court in the backdrop of unprecedented flood and landslide disaster
that occurred in Uttarakhand in 2013. It was alleged that the adverse impact of the
disaster could have been mitigated had there been effective implementation of the
Disaster Management Act, 2005 and adequate preparedness by the State Government of
Uttarakhand. It was also alleged in the writ petitions that many of the other States were
also not fully prepared to deal with a disaster and therefore necessary directions ought to
be given by this Court for proper implementation of the Act.

The court observed that though both state and central government had been very lax in
implementing the provisions of the DM Act, however in due course of litigation most of
the mandatory provisions of the DM Act have been implemented, so now there is no need
to issue any further direction. The Court further observed that all state except Andhra
Pradesh and Telangana have prepared a State Disaster Management Plan as mandated
under Section 23 of the Act. It further observed that District Disaster Management
Authority has been constituted in every district under Section 25 of the Act and out of

49
(2017) 6 SCC 730

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684 districts in the country; a District Disaster Management Plan is in place in 615
districts while it is under process in the remaining districts.

The next case, Russel Joy v. Union of India50 arose in the wake of Kerala flood. In this
public interest writ petition prayer was made to “appoint an international agency with the
technical expertise to study and to adjudge the lifespan of Mullaperiyar Dam and to
ascertain the date/period on which the said dam must be decommissioned; appoint a High
Powered Committee to suggest to this Court to declare a date/time period for
decommissioning of Mullaperiyar Dam; direct the State owning the dam, that is, Tamil
Nadu to make financial provisions for damages to life and restoration of environment in
the eventuality of a burst of Mullaperiyar Dam before it is decommissioned.”

In this case the Court passed following directions invoking various provisions of Disaster
Management Act;

A. The Central Government to constitute a separate Sub-Committee under Section 9

of the 2005 Act, to exclusively monitor the measures for ensuring a high level of
preparedness to face any disaster, which is unpredictable in relation to
Mullaperiyar Dam
B. The State of Kerala as well as the State of Tamil Nadu shall also constitute
separate Sub-Committees under Section 21 of the 2005 Act, to exclusively
monitor the measures for ensuring a high level of preparedness to face any
disaster occurring from Mullaperiyar Dam. They must provide for a separate
dispensation under the State plan as envisaged under Section 23(4) of the 2005
Act,
C. The State of Tamil Nadu, which has been directed to cooperate as per the decision
in State of T.N. [State of T.N. v. State of Kerala, (2014) 12 SCC 696] shall also
have a Sub-Committee for disaster management and with a specific plan,
D. Constitution of all Sub-Committees shall be in addition to the existing
Committees. All the States shall work in harmony with the Central Sub-

50
(2018) 3 SCC 179

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 Committee and ensure high level preparedness to face any disaster occurring due
to Mullaperiyar Dam, so that life and property are not damaged.

Bombay High Courts have also passed direction for the faithful implementation of the
Disaster Management Act.

In the matter of Dr. Sanjay Lakhe Patil51 Bombay High Court has passed directions to
government of Maharashtra to expedite the process of framing of rules as mandated
under Section 78 of the DM Act so that provision of the Act can be carried out. The
Hon’ble Court observed that ordinarily court does not issue writs to the state government
to exercise its rule making power but in exceptional circumstances like in this case when
there is no implementation of an important central legislation like DM Act, the Court has
no other option but to “to issue appropriate writ, order or direction requiring the State
Government to take all steps to implement the provisions of the DMA in general and in
particular to frame Rules within a time bound manner, so that, there is no effective
implementation of the provisions of DM Act”.52

The court also directed State Disaster Management Authority and the State Executive Committee
to review and update the State disaster Management Plan, in terms of Section 23(5) of the DM
Act to make it consistent with the “guidelines laid down by the National Disaster Management
Authority, particularly in the matter of tackling “drought” or “drought-like” situation in
Maharashtra”.53

IV Postscript

Therefore, we see that though the Disaster Management Act, 2005 came into force in
2006, still; it was the Supreme Court’s direction in several PILs that expedited the
faithful implementation of the provisions of the Act. This is not the first time when
Supreme Court or in some appropriate cases High Courts in India have passed such
orders where they have asked government to implement certain laws when government
have been sleeping over it even after their enactment. In the above quoted case of Dr.

51
2018 SCC OnLine Bom 1661
52
Id Para 27
53
2018 SCC OnLine Bom 1661 Para 59 ( c )

Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3820478

Sanjay Lakhe Patil the main prayer before the Court was to issue a writ of mandamus
directing government of Maharashtra to frame Rules in terms of Section 78 of DM Act.
Before passing an order of such effect the Court listed a number of cases where they have
passed such orders.54

It is because of constant vigilance of the Supreme Court of India that almost all
provisions of DM Act have been put into practice. Now at national level we have a fully
functional NDMA with prime minister of India as its head. All bodies under the NDMA,
like National Executive Committee and various other subcommittees have also been
formed. National Policy on Disaster Management was already approved by Union
cabinet in 2009, now, a new National Disaster Management Plan has also been unveiled
by the Prime Minister of India in May 2016.55

On May 11, 2016 Supreme Court observed in Swaraj Abhiyan case56 that even after 10
years of DM Act coming into force, no specialist National Disaster Response
Force (NDRF) in terms of section 44 of DM Act has been constituted. Therefore, Court
gave direction to Union Government to constitute NDRF with its own regular specialist
cadre “with appropriate and regular cadre strength within a period of six months”. At
present Indian NDRF constitute of 12 battalions, each battalion having 18 self-contained
specialist searches and rescue teams of 45 personnel each including engineers,
technicians, electricians, dog squads and medical/paramedics. The total strength of each
battalion is 1,149.

As late as on August 17, 2018, Supreme Court took Kerala Government to task when
immense flood hit the state and asked Chief Secretary of the State of Kerala “to show
what steps have been taken to meet the disaster management and the steps taken for the
purpose of rescue operation/rehabilitation”. Therefore, we can conclude that Supreme

54
Id See Para 25 to 31
55
Prime Minister Narendra Modi releases country's first-ever National Disaster Management Plan - Times
of India, The Times of India,
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/52541150.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_mediu
m=text&utm_campaign=cppst (last visited Jan 17, 2019)
56
2016 SCC OnLine SC 485

Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3820478

Court has been playing a very important role in implementing the Disaster Management
Act, 2005 in its true spirit and letters.

Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3820478