Wondering how the contract for management of the Morbi bridge was handed over to a clock-making enterprise, the Gujarat High Court on Tuesday came down heavily on the municipality and pulled the civic body for “acting smart”, weeks after the collapse of the British-era suspension bridge led to the death of 135 people.
The High Court pointed out that the civic body was at fault, stating that the officials were “acting smart” as they failed to appear for the hearing despite a notice.
The HC asked why no disciplinary action was taken against the municipality’s chief officer and sought replies from the state. In the order, the HC further wondered the reason behind giving the maintenance contract to Oreva even without floating a tender. The HC bench, comprising Chief Justice Aravind Kumar and Justice Ashutosh J Shastri, expressed shock over the agreement of the maintenance work being limited to only one and half pages. The court had filed a suo-motu PIL and sought explanation from six departments.
Barring few managers of Oreva Group’s Ajanta Manufacturing Private Limited (AMPL),, no top officials have been arrested after the bridge was reopened without obtaining the fitness certificate.
“This [contract] was to operate, maintain, manage and collect rent in respect of the suspension bridge. The said period expired on June 15, 2017. Thus the moot question would be: Under this MoU, who had been fixed the responsibility to certify the fitness of bridge… After the term was over in 2017, what steps were taken by Morbi civic body and the Collector thereafter to float a tender?” a media report quoted the judge as saying.