HC issues notice to Home Ministry over vacant posts in NDMA, NIDM

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday rapped the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) for its failure to fill vacant positions in the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and the National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM) and asked for the reasons behind this.

Admonishing the MHA, a bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar Prasad said that if the vacant positions were not important, they should be deleted and the institutions NIDM and NDMA should be wound up.

A notice has been issued to the MHA asking to explain its stand before the next date on September 19. The observation came after a petition was filed by a lawyer, Gaurav Bansal, who alleged that several key positions in the NDMA and NIDM, including that of the Vice Chairperson and Secretary of NDMA, are lying vacant. This is affecting the functioning of both the bodies.

"For the successful implementation of IDRN, MHA has authorised NIDM to organise training programmes regularly across the country. However, due to lack of manpower since the last two years, NIDM has not organised any such regular training programme," the petition said.