Gujarat HC warns Morbi civic body: ‘You’re taking it casually’

AHMEDABAD:  The Gujarat High Court on Wednesday warned the Morbi Municipal Corporation (MMC) for failing to file its response to a suo motu public interest litigation case taken up by the High Court with regard to Morbi bridge collapse that killed more than 135 people on October 30.

A bench of Chief Justice Aravind Kumar and justice Ashutosh J Shastri asked the MMC to either file its response by evening on Wednesday or pay hefty costs. The court said, “Now you are taking the matter casually. So, either file your reply by this evening or pay a fine of Rs 1 lakh.” The civic body’s lawyer sought some time to file its response in the petition. He said that the civic body is being looked after by the deputy collector, Morbi.

“He is also on election duty. The notice should have been sent to the Deputy Collector, but it was served to the civic body instead on November 9. Thus, there was a delay in appearing before this court,” the lawyer explained.

Morbi Municipality also accepted that on the day the bridge collapsed, there was no permission or sanction to use the bridge.  The civic body, however, filed a 10-pages reply to the court by the evening.  The court had taken note of the tragedy on its own and sought replies from at least six departments.  

The bench had then directed the State, its Chief Secretary, the Morbi Municipal Corporation, the Urban Development Department (UDD), the State Home Department and the State Human Rights Commission to be impleaded as parties in the matter and sought their responses.

The bench had on Tuesday noted that the MMC was ‘playing smart’ by not appearing before it despite a notice being issued.