HC: Morbi civic body guilty of dereliction
NEW DELHI: Officials of the Morbi municipality were guilty of dereliction of duty for allowing a pedestrian bridge to open and be crowded beyond capacity, leading to the deaths of 141 people when it eventually collapsed, the Gujarat high court said on Thursday.
The court, which was hearing the matter after having started proceedings on its own (or suo motu), also observed that the compensation to the families of the victims was “abysmally low”, and ordered the state to carry out an audit of all such bridges across the state.
In a series of stern observations, the court pulled up the Morbi municipality’s chief officer SV Zala for how the bridge was managed.
“The tenor of the letter sent
by the Nagar Palika to the Ajanta (the company that operated and repaired the bridge) on January 19, 2021 would indicate that the same (civic body) is
concentrated more on the price of the tickets rather than the condition of the bridge. In other words, as of January, 2021, the
Nagar Palika seems to have ignored the warning of the condition of the bridge which had been signalled by the M/s Ajanta...,” the bench remarked.
“At least, dereliction of duty proceedings should have been initiated against him…you do it on your own or else we will issue the directions,” it told senior advocate Kamal Trivedi, the advocate general appearing for the Gujarat government.
Trivedi told the bench, of chief justice Aravind Kumar and justice Ashutosh J Shastri, that disciplinary proceedings have already been initiated against Zala and that the state is awaiting the final report from the Special Investigation Team (SIT).
On the aspect of the compensation, the court said that ₹10 lakh should be the minimum ex gratia.
“In so far as the compensation proposed to be paid to the family of the deceased and other seriously injured people is concerned, it is abysmally on the lower side. The compensation must be realistic. We hope and trust that the said compensation, which should not only be realistic and also the need of the hour, is taken care of by paying proper compensation,” the court said.
“The catastrophe or the tragedy which has struck within the jurisdiction of Morbi municipality, prima facie cannot be brushed aside as not exhibiting the incompetency and default of the municipality and it is for this precise reason that we had posed the question as to why the state has not exercised its power under section 263 of the Gujarat Municipality Act, 1963 to supersede and dissolve the municipality,” said the court, also putting up the state government.
Section 263 of the Gujarat municipality act, 1963 empowers the state government to dissolve or supersede municipality in case of incompetency, default or abuse of power.
During the hearing, the court was informed by Trivedi that seven children lost both their parents in the tragedy.
The court asked the state to provide adequate monetary relief to them for enabling their education and also think of formulating for giving rehabilitation of the children who have been orphaned.
The court said it was “high time that all officials who are either, monitoring, managing, controlling and administering such bridges across the state should ensure that the bridges in their jurisdiction or proper conditions which are usable and if not the remedial measures from preventing any untoward incident happening.”
Last week, the Supreme Court, calling it “an enormous tragedy” and requested the Gujarat high court to examine the matter on a periodical basis to ensure investigation fixes accountability of those guilty of criminal negligence as well as offer adequate compensation to the next of kin of 141 victims, which included 37 children.