The Delhi High Court on Wednesday asked the Ministry of Home Affairs to file its response on a petition that claimed vacant posts in the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM) have not been filled the past two years.
A division bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C. Hari Shankar sought the government's response on the plea before the next date of hearing on September 23.
NDMA, as the apex body, is mandated to lay down the policies, plans and guidelines for disaster management to ensure timely and effective response to disasters.
The plea filed by advocate Gaurav Kumar Bansal claimed that the posts of Vice Chairperson and Secretary in NDMA are lying vacant for over two years. It said key posts, including those of professors, associate professors, assistant professors, are lying vacant in NIDM.
Bansal said that day-to-day functioning of the two departments was hampered due to the non-filling of the vacant posts.
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It said: "In the absence of any Vice Chairman, members are working on their own without any direction and coordination and looking for guidance from PMO/MHA on a day-to-day basis which is seriously hampering the efficiency of the organisation."
NDMA has two vacancies while NIDM has a total of 19 vacancies, the petition said.
--IANS
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