IAF chopper sprinkles water to douse U'khand forest fires

May 1, 2016

New Delhi, May 1: An IAF Mi 17 chopper today flew several sorties in Nainital district sprinkling water lifted from a lake to douse the raging forest fires that have destroyed vast swathes of forested land across Uttarakhand.

Low visibility, however, prevented a second chopper from being deployed in Pauri district for the aerial operations in the hill state which commenced today as part of efforts to control the fires that has killed seven persons and destroyed 2,269 hectares of forested land. The fire has also spread to sparsely populated remote hill areas.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh reviewed the situation in Delhi and held discussions with chief secretary and other officials of Uttarakhand government. He also offered all assistance from the Centre.

As the Centre's handling of the forest fires came under attack from the Congress, Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said the government was taking the incident "very seriously" and making all efforts to control it.

"Government is taking the forest fires of Uttarakhand very seriously. 6,000 people have been deployed for fighting it. We also granted Rs 5 crore to the state yesterday," he said.

Taking on the Centre, Congress' Chief Spokesman Randeep Surjewala said, "while the Modi government is fuelling political crisis in a peaceful state, it has miserably failed to tackle a major environmental tragedy."

The Mi 17 chopper, which has a capacity to carry 3,000 litres of water, is collecting water from Bhimtal lake and making sorties over Almakhan, Kilbari and Nalena areas of Nainital district to douse the fires, Principal Conservator of Forest(PCF) and nodal officer BP Gupta told PTI.

However, another IAF chopper engaged for the same purpose in Pauri has not been able to take off due to low visibility, Pauri District Magistrate Chandrasekhar Bhatt said.

The chopper has collected water from Shrinagar dam but will make a sortie over areas where fires are active only when visibility improves, he said.

However, with the two choppers pressed into service and all security agencies besides locals involved in fire fighting operations the situation is likely to be brought under control in a couple of days, the PCF said.

Pauri, Nainital, Rudraprayag and Tehri are among the worst-hit districts, Gupta said but hoped with all agencies activated the situation was bound to improve.Three companies of the NDRF, one of SDRF besides PRD and homeguard personnel are currently engaged in the operations, he said.

With the MeT department predicting a significant fall in day temperatures after May 2, forest fires may get under control after a couple of days, he said but added that the administration will have to remain alert for the next 35 days to prevent fresh forest fire incidents.

Since the beginning of forest fire season in the state in February, 922 incidents have occurred so far.

Forest fires are natural during summer but this time they have occurred on a bigger scale as the fire season, which normally begins by February 15 and ends by June 15, started early on February 2.

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‘Pay the worker before his sweat dries’: Madras High Court cites Prophet Muhammad’s teaching while ordering settlement of dues

News Network

December 21,2025

Invoking the teachings of Prophet Muhammad—“pay the worker before his sweat dries”—the Madras High Court has directed a municipal corporation to settle long-pending legal dues owed to a former counsel. The court observed that this principle reflects basic fairness and applies equally to labour and service-related disputes.

Justice G. R. Swaminathan made the observation while hearing a petition filed by advocate P. Thirumalai, who claimed that the Madurai City Municipal Corporation failed to pay him legal fees amounting to ₹13.05 lakh. Earlier, the High Court had asked the corporation to consider his representation. However, a later order rejected a major portion of his claim, prompting the present petition.

The court allowed Thirumalai to approach the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) and submit a list of cases in which he had appeared. It also directed the corporation to settle the verified fee bills within two months, without interest. The court noted that the petitioner had waited nearly 18 years before challenging the non-payment and that the corporation could not be fully blamed, as the fee bills were not submitted properly.

‘A Matter of Embarrassment’

Justice Swaminathan described it as a “matter of embarrassment” that the State has nearly a dozen Additional Advocate Generals. He observed that appointing too many law officers often leads to unnecessary allocation of work and frequent adjournments, as government counsel claim that senior officers are engaged elsewhere.

He expressed hope that such practices would end at least in the Madurai Bench of the High Court and added that Additional Advocate Generals should “turn a new leaf” from 2026 onwards.

‘Scandalously High Amounts’

While stating that the court cannot examine the exact fees paid to senior counsel or law officers, Justice Swaminathan stressed that good governance requires public funds to be used prudently. He expressed concern over the “scandalously high amounts” paid by government and quasi-government bodies to a few favoured law officers.

In contrast, the court noted that Thirumalai’s total claim was “a pittance” considering the large number of cases he had handled.

Background

Thirumalai served as the standing counsel for the Madurai City Municipal Corporation for more than 14 years, from 1992 to 2006. During this period, he represented the corporation in about 818 cases before the Madurai District Courts.

As the former counsel was unable to hire a clerk to obtain certified copies of judgments in all 818 cases, the court directed the District Legal Services Authority to collect the certified copies within two months. The court further ordered the corporation to bear the cost incurred by the DLSA and deduct that amount from the final settlement payable to the petitioner.

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