Issuance of notice to the accused, who has allegedly violated the directions issued under the Disaster Management (DM) Act, at least 30 days prior to launching of prosecution by the complainant on the alleged violation is mandatory in law, said the High Court of Karnataka.
Section 60 (b) of the DM Act, 2005, and Rule 3 of the Disaster Management (Notice of alleged offence) Rules, 2007, mandates that any person should issue notice on/of his intention to make a complaint, and that the notice should be delivered to the person against whom complaint is proposed to be made, the Court said.
Justice M. Nagaprasanna made these observations while quashing the case registered against Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar in 2021 for allegedly violating the guidelines issued under Section 51(b) of the DM Act during COVID-19 pandemic.
