Morbi bridge tragedy: Explanation by evening or pay 1 lakh, HC warns civic body

Ahmedabad: In the wake of the suspension bridge tragedy which resulted in the death of more than 130 people, the Gujarat High Court issued a strict warning to the Morbi civic body over delay in filing the status despite two notices by the court.

"Yesterday you were acting smart, now you are taking the matter casually," said the court, "So, either file your reply by this evening, or pay a fine of ₹ 1 lakh."

The lawyer representing the Morbi civic body informed the court that the Deputy Collector who is in charge is on election duty.

"The notice should have been sent to the Deputy Collector, but it was served to the civic body instead, thus, the delay in appearing before this court," the lawyer said.

The court directed the submission of Affidavit on how the tragedy occurred, by evening or else it will move forward with the penalty.

Gujarat Chief Justice Aravind Kumar and Justice Ashutosh J Shastri are hearing the case.

In the preliminary observation the court said: "The municipality, a government body, has defaulted, which ultimately killed 135 people. The state shall also place on record reasons why disciplinary proceedings against chief officer of the civic body aren't commenced yet."

On Tuesday the High Court asked the state to explain why the contract was given to Oreva Group without floating a tender. It noted that a MoU was signed between Rajkot collector and Oreva Group, to operate, maintain, manage and collect rent from the suspension bridge. As the MoU expired in 2019, Ajanta Group acquired the maintaining rights of the bridge.

The court queried the state government to explain on what grounds did the Ajanta group acquired the bridge to which the civic body is not answered yet.

Nine staff members of the company have been arrested so far, while the top management has not yet faced action, nor any officers are held responsible for reopening the bridge prior to quality checks.

The court alleged that the company did not replace the rusted cables but installed a new flooring that proved too heavy.

Previously, It had asked for files of the contract to be submitted in a sealed envelope.