Shreya Gupta
On 5th September 2025, the Punjab and Haryana High Court declined to intervene at this stage. The matter pertained to a public interest litigation (PIL) petition concerning the devastating floods in Punjab.
A Division Bench of Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Sanjiv Berry observed that any Court order at this stage would divert the manpower of the Government, which is currently needed to deal with the flood situation, noting, “The officers are right now dealing with the ground situation. They will have to sit down and file an affidavit for this. We don’t want to do that.”
The bench added, “They will be extricated from that flood relief, and they will be sitting on a table, preparing an affidavit for your petition, which we don’t want to do.” The petitioner had argued that the flood was caused by mismanagement of the Government and other authorities and that the relief work being done was the bare minimum, but the Court was unconvinced and said it will hear the matter next week with similar petitions related to the Punjab floods
“We will take it up on Monday,” Chief Justice Nagu said.
Additional Solicitor General Satya Pal Jain submitted that the authorities were doing their best: “Government of India, State of Punjab … we are doing our best. Yesterday, the agriculture minister was there. This is not the time to raise this issue,” and the counsel representing the Punjab Government told the Court that the Supreme Court had taken note of the floods in a case heard on Thursday.
On September 2, the High Court had similarly declined to pass any order on a comparable PIL seeking court-monitored relief and rehabilitation measures in the State.
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