Kochi: The Kerala High Court here on Thursday issued an order directing its registrar to take suo motu case over Wayanad landslides. The case is registered based on media reports and a letter. A division bench of Justice Jayasankaran Nambiar and Justice VM Shyam Kumar will consider the case on Friday morning.
The court will take cognizance of Gadgil and Kasturirangan committee reports while considering the case. Earlier, the High Court had asked the factors that triggered the landslides in Wayanad. Following this, an order was issued to take a case. A few days back, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) also sought a report on the natural disaster.
As per unofficial records, a total of 413 people were killed in the multiple landslides in Wayanad's Mundakkai, Chooralmala, Punchirimattam and Attamala regions on July 30.
Search for the missing people in the disaster-hit regions entered the 10th day on Thursday. A special team of army and forest personnel are continuing a special search drive in Sunrise Valley at Soochippara. It is suspected that the bodies of landslide victims will be trapped between rocks in this area.
Till Wednesday, the number of persons suspected to be missing in the landslides was around 138. As per government data, 226 people were confirmed to be dead. Besides that, 192 body parts were recovered from the disaster-hit areas and the Chaliyar river till August 7, according to figures provided by the Wayanad district administration.
As the search operations progress, the state government is also working to ensure temporary rehabilitation of those affected by the landslides.
