Hearing the case of the petitioner seeking DNA tests of remains of the persons killed in the 2013 Kedarnath disaster, the High Court of Uttarakhand has directed the petitioner to also make the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology (WIHG), a party in the case. The High Court division bench of Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan and justice Alok Kumar Verma issued this direction while hearing on the petition on Wednesday.

According to the case details, Delhi resident Ajay Gautam had filed a Public Interest Litigation in the High Court. He had stated in the petition that since the 2013 Kedarnath disaster, at least 4,200 persons were missing our of which the skeletal remains of only 600 had been found by the authorities. About six years after the disaster, the remains of at least 3,200 persons remain buried in the Kedar valley.

The Government is not making any effort to extract the remains of these thousands of deceased. In the past too the High Court had directed the State Government to extract the remains of the deceased and conduct their last rites.

However, the State Government has taken no action in this direction so far. The petitioner has stated in the PIL that mortal remains of the 2013 disaster victims are still coming up in the valley. Considering this, all the mortal remains of the disaster victims should be extracted and their last rites conducted.

The DNA test of the mortal remains should also be conducted and necessary communication should be shared with the next of kin.

The petitioner has further stated that since the disaster about six year ago, more than 900 persons have approached the State Government to seek the bodies/mortal remains of their family members.

These persons have also communicated their approval to get the DNA tests conducted on the mortal remains of their relatives.

It is pertinent to mention here that though State Government has focused on reconstruction and revival of pilgrimage to Kedarnath since the 2013 disaster, the earlier Congress-led Government and the current BJP Government have not been that proactive in extracting the mortal remains of those who died in the 2013 disaster.