Kerala High Court directs authorities to close all drains after child falls into open drain

The Kerala High Court recently pulled up Kochi Corporation authorities for not taking sufficient efforts to address the dangers faced by citizens due to the existence of open drains across the city [CP Ajithkumar & Anr. v State of Kerala & Ors.]..Justice Devan Ramachandran underscored the urgency of the situation after the amicus curiae informed the Court of a recent incident where a child fell into a deep drain that was not closed, in Panampilly Nagar area of Kochi..The judge said that he was relieved that the child didn’t sustain any serious injuries even though the drain was large enough to drown the child."As we have seen in this case, the victim is a small child, who would not know the pitfall that faced him, while he was walking happily with his parents, yesterday evening. The drain in question is large enough for him to have drowned; and when he fell it was also possible that he could have hit it, to cause serious injury. As I said before, it is pure God's grace that this has not happened," the Court said in its order passed on November 17. However, noting that there are many such open drains in Kochi and other parts of the State, the judge said there is no justification to turn a blind eye to them.“The sight of open drains and pits are very common in Kochi, as is in various other parts of our State. However, this cannot be a justification to turn a blind eye to it," the single-judge stated..Referring to an idea mooted by it previously, the Court stressed on the importance of making the streets safe for pedestrians.""Operation Footpath” was an idea that this Court muted several months ago. I have been saying it consistently that a city in which citizens cannot walk, is not worthy to be called such," the Court said..The court passed the order on one of its longest pending writ petitions, first moved in 2008, seeking directions to the concerned authorities to ensure the maintenance of the roads..The Court took up the matter urgently in the morning and directed the Secretary of the Corporation, Babu Abdul Kader, to appear before it personally before it afternoon sitting.Kader appeared and apologized for the incident and also informed that he took charge only on October 12.He submitted that the Corporation is taking every measure in terms of the directions of this Court, to make the pedestrian areas safer in Kochi, however, it will require time, effort, and money – the last of which is scarce.He further assured the Court that, within the next two weeks, all the open drains, pits, and such others, will either be slabbed as far as possible or will be barricaded and kept away from harm, even to a child or to a senior citizen..The Court said that it will now be listing another plea along with it, one that was filed in 2018 regarding the blockage of the Perandoor canal within the Cochin Corporation limits resulting in inundation of roads.In the latter plea, the Court had previously passed orders to constitute a committee under the under the Chairmanship of the District Collector, who is also the head of the disaster management authority, to oversee the issues in that case.Justice Ramachandran opined that the present issue would also fall within the sweep of the Disaster Management Authority Act.Therefore, the Committee was directed to oversee action taken by the secretary of the corporation and to also conduct a security audit with respect to the pedestrian areas of this city.“The absolute imperative of making the city safe for every citizen - be that young, old or the infirm - has now attained acme proportion, with this one incident. Unless we act now, the day would not be far when we would have to see the full consequences of such an incident. This is unthinkable!” the order said..The matter will be heard next on December 2, 2022..[Read Order]