Morbi tragedy: ‘Submit reply by evening or pay fine,’ warns Gujarat HC – Fast Hindi News

Ahmedabad: The Gujarat High Court on Wednesday asked the civic body officials to file a status report by evening or pay a heavy fine, a day after coming down heavily on the civic body officials in the Morbi bridge collapse case.

“Stop taking this matter so casually. Either file your affidavit by today evening or pay the cost of Rs 1 lakh,” the court said.

Despite issuing the notice, no representative of Morbi Municipal Corporation (MMC) appeared before it. On Tuesday, the court observed that the MMC was trying to ‘play smart’ by skipping the crucial session.

Meanwhile, the counsel defending the civic body said that the deputy collector who is in-charge of Morbi Municipal Corporation is on election duty and never received the notice.

He submitted that the notice was given to the civic body which should have been the case with the Deputy Collector. Hence, the delay.

On October 30, a hanging bridge collapsed in Morbi city of Gujarat, in which 135 people lost their lives. The bridge was a tourist place and it was crowded on the day of the incident as it was a Sunday.

Gujarat High Court took suo motu cognizance

With no progress in the case, the Gujarat High Court took suo motu cognizance of the matter on 7 November. It has been 17 days since the incident that claimed hundreds of lives, but no strict action has been taken except for the interrogation of some of the people arrested.

On November 14, the High Court had sought direct answers from the state government as well as other concerned departments. The court asked why a private contractor whose license had expired in 2017 was given the work of renovating the Morbi bridge.

Company invokes hand of god behind crash

Earlier, one of the accused managers of the Orewa company, responsible for repairing the Morbi Bridges, said the accident was an “act of God”.

Additional Public Prosecutor, Advocate HS Panchal said, “One of the two managers of Orewa Company (who have been arrested) told the court that it was an ‘act of God’.”