Morbi bridge collapse: Gujarat HC issues notice to owners of Oreva group

Coming down heavily on Morbi municipality, the court said that it is not fair to demand time to defend ‘carelessness’. It also said action will be taken against the municipality if any case of carelessness is established on its part.

The British-era bridge on the Machchhu river in Morbi collapsed on October 30 leaving over 140 dead including 47 children. Located around 300 km from the state capital Gandhinagar, had reopened five days back after extensive repairs and renovation. It was crammed with people when it collapsed around 6.30 pm on October 30. Gujarat government paid a total compensation of ₹10 lakh to the kin of each of the deceased and a grant of ₹1 lakh to the injured in the bridge collapse incident.

The Gujarat High Court on 7 November took suo motu cognisance of the Morbi accident, issuing notices to officials, including those of the Home department and seeking a report within a week.

“We expect strict action from the state government,” the HC observed.

The Supreme Court in November said the Morbi bridge collapse incident was an ‘enormous tragedy’, as it asked the Gujarat High Court, which was already holding hearings in the matter suo motu, to hold periodical hearings.

A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice Hima Kohli said that as a division bench headed by the Gujarat High Court Chief Justice has already taken a suo motu note of the incident and has passed several orders, it will not hear the petitions as of now.

It, however, permitted a PIL petitioner and another litigant, who lost his two relatives in the incident, to move the high court with their pleas seeking an independent probe and award of dignified compensation to those who lost their family members.

The top court also said that the petitioners may approach it later.

Advocate Vishal Tiwari filed the PIL in which it said that the accident at bridge depicted the negligence and utter failure of the authorities.

Tiwari sought a direction to the states to constitute a construction incident investigation department so that fast and prompt probes can be done whenever such incidents occur.

The plea said such departments should also enquire about the quality and safety of any public construction taking place.

It claimed that the authorities in Gujarat also failed to control tourists, and it has been reported that over 500 people were on the bridge at the time of the incident.

“The incident at Morbi has shocked the country wherein due to the utter lapse and negligence on part of government authorities along with the negligence and fault in duty by the private operator has resulted in severe violation of fundamental rights of the people under Article 21 of the Constitution of India,” it alleged.

The plea said several old bridges and monuments, which attract a large number of tourists, are there in the country and their assessment risk needs to be looked into to avoid such public casualty.