Dengue Menace: Allahabad HC warns UP govt of President rule

Lucknow: In a very harsh observation, the Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court on Tuesday castigated Uttar Pradesh government for its failure to control the deadly disease like dengue in the state and remarked the situation warranted invocation of Article 356 as it was nothing short of the constitutional break down.

A division bench comprising justices P Sahi and Devendra Kumar Upadhyay came down heavily on the state government and summoned Chief Secretary Rahul Bhatnagar in the Court on Thursday to explain why did it not warrant the Court to recommend use of Article 356. The court passed the directive on the several petitions filed by one M P Singh and others on which the state government had filed its counter.

Dissatisfied with the content of the counter, the justices said the bureaucrats of the state committed criminal negligence in dealing with dengue and such diseases and torturous liability in this regard should be fixed. ''Why the UP government is hesitating to award compensation and fix criminal liability in the matter,'' the Court asked adding ''the court is going on record that there is a complete constitutional failure in UP, then Article 356 will come into picture.''

The next date of hearing is fixed on October 27 i.e Thursday when the Chief Secretary, UP will personally appear in the Court at 10.15 hours.