Jharkhand High Court
Court On Its Own Motion vs The State Of Jharkhand And Others on 5 October, 2016
Author: Virender Singh
Bench: Virender Singh, S. Chandrashekhar
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF JHARKHAND AT RANCHI
W.P.(PIL) No. 5909 of 2016
COURT ON ITS OWN MOTION
Versus
The State of Jharkhand & Others
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CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE VIRENDER SINGH, CHIEF JUSTICE
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE S. CHANDRASHEKHAR
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Dated : 5th October, 2016
Per Virender Singh, C.J.
In today's (5th October, 2016) daily newspaper Hindustan Times in its Ranchi edition, it carries a news item titled "Jamshedpur vulnerable to gas leak disasters: NDRF". The news item refers to a survey conducted by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) in September, which found Jamshedpur vulnerable to gas leak disasters, with most companies in and around the city having no safety plans and/or mitigation systems in place for such exigencies.
The news report further refers to the conversation of NDRF Deputy Commandant Shri K.K. Jha, who is stated to have said that "it is dangerous with many companies having gas holders and extensive use of carbon monoxide, blast furnace (BF) gas, ammonia and other deadly gases. It is in this backdrop that we have proposed to set up an emergency control and monitoring centre here. We have also submitted a design and building plan based on the Gujarat model to the State Government". NDRF is also said to have shown the design and layout to East Singhbhum Deputy Commissioner (DC) Shri Amit Kumar detailing the land requirement for such centre. While giving reference to various functioning factors of the said centre, the news report has also given a list of four incidences that took place on various dates in Jamshedpur, which are as under: -
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(1) May 27, 2008 : 300 people affected by Chlorine gas leakage in Tata Motors Colony (2) November 14, 2013 : An explosion in Tata Steel's LD-2 gasholder left one employee dead and 10 others injured (3) November 16, 2015 : An explosion at the ammonia scrubber near in Tata Steel factory left 19 workers injured (4) August 26, 2016 : One died and seven others were injured after carbon monoxide leaked in Nasigh Ispat Company factory.
As we all are aware that Jamshedpur is an internationally renowned city known for Tata Steel Limited being located here. Not only Tata Steel Limited, but other Tata group companies like Tata Motors, Tata Power etc. are also stationed at Jamshedpur. Additionally, a number of other companies are also running their industrial units at Jamshedpur. Having such large number of companies and industrial units situated in and around the city, Jamshedpur is one of the densely populated cities of Jharkhand.
Having noticed the aforesaid facts and figures in the referred news report, this Court feels that it is really a matter of concern, when life and liberty of millions of people residing in and around Jamshedpur are at stake due to its vulnerability to gas leak disasters. This Court thus takes suo moto cognizance of the news report published in the daily newspaper "Hindustan Times" in its Ranchi Edition dated October 5, 2016 (Wednesday) and directs the Registry to diarise the same as Public Interest Litigation. Let notice be issued to the following, who are made respondents in this Public Interest Litigation: -
1. The State of Jharkhand, through the Chief Secretary, Jharkhand;
2. The Principal Secretary, Department of Home, Jail & Disaster 3 Management, State of Jharkhand, Ranchi;
3. The Director General, National Disaster Response Force, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, HQ NDRF, Antyodaya Bhawan, B-2 Wing, 9th Floor, CGO Complex, New Delhi 110 003.
4. The Deputy Commissioner, Singhbhum East, Jamshedpur.
While fixing the next date for consideration of the matter on 19th October, 2016, in the meanwhile, we direct the Principal Secretary, Department of Home, Jail & Disaster Management, State of Jharkhand to submit a report detailing all modes and means to fight with any disaster that may occur in the wake of the revelation and the proposals made by the NDRF as reported in the referred news item by 19th October, 2016 positively before this Court.
Post submission of the reports by the respondents, this Court will consider the other aspects and questions to be dealt with that fall for or require consideration by this Court in this Public Interest Litigation.
Registry is directed to communicate a copy of this order to the respondents.
Let this Public Interest Litigation be listed on the next date fixed for its consideration, i.e., 19th October, 2016 (Wednesday).
(Virender Singh, C.J.) (S. Chandrashekhar, J.) LAK