High Court initiates judicial probe into Malwani building collapse in Mumbai

The Bombay High Court on Friday initiated a judicial inquiry into the building collapse incident in Malwani space of Mumbai, which claimed 12 lives.

It mentioned that the incident proved that there existed absolute lawlessness in the municipal wards in Mumbai in addition to its adjoining areas.

At least 12 folks, together with eight kids, had been killed and 7 others injured after two flooring of a three-storey residential building collapsed on an adjoining single-storey home at Malwani in suburban Mumbai late on Wednesday evening.

A Bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice G. S. Kulkarni directed the inquiry commissioner to submit the preliminary report of the incident by June 24.

The Bench mentioned that it had been immensely pained by the incident, in which eight harmless kids misplaced their lives.

The courtroom mentioned that these in-charge of the involved municipal ward should be held accountable.

It additional famous that between May 15 and June 10 this yr, 4 incidents of building collapse had been reported in Mumbai and its adjoining areas, in which a complete of 24 folks died.

“What is happening? How many lives will be lost? What type of buildings are these? Were they identified as dangerous or illegal, but not demolished or were they not identified?” HC mentioned.

“You (municipal authorities) can’t play with lives of people. We have to hold those in-charge of the concerned ward responsible. Eight innocent children died on the first day of the rains,” it mentioned.

The HC mentioned that there was no will among the many civic officers to examine the situations of unlawful development, or to demolish unlawful buildings.

“This is nothing but lawlessness. You can realise the pain we are facing due to the death of people, including innocent children,” the excessive courtroom mentioned.

“This pain should also be felt by the corporators. We are shocked. This is a man-made disaster and nothing else. Every monsoon it has to happen. Why it cannot be prevented?” the excessive courtroom requested.

The Bench was presiding over a PIL that it had initiated suo motu (by itself) final yr following an incident of building collapse at Bhiwandi in Thane district.

While the PIL was not scheduled initially for a listening to on Friday, the Bench sought its manufacturing after taking suo motu cognisance of the Malwani incident. The HC will proceed the listening to on June 24.

Earlier in the day, the excessive courtroom additionally requested the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to determine the context in which Mayor Kishori Pednekar had referred to a earlier HC order whereas answering questions associated to the Malwani building collapse incident.

A Bench led by Chief Justice Dipankar Datta directed senior counsel Anil Sakhre, who represents the BMC, to examine the video footage of the mentioned dialog between Ms. Pednekar and media individuals, and to tell the courtroom of the context in which she had made the assertion.

The excessive courtroom was referring to a information report printed in a regional newspaper on Friday, in which Ms. Pednekar was quoted as referring to a keep order of the excessive courtroom on eviction, and demolition of buildings through the pandemic, as one of many components behind the Malwani incident.

“We are not going to tolerate politics over building collapses. We have said that if a building is dangerous or dilapidated then the concerned authority should approach court for demolition,” the excessive courtroom mentioned.

“We are surprised that despite giving liberty to the corporations to approach the courts, the corporations are shifting blame on us. You do not take action against the buildings on time, and then blame is shifted on us,” the HC mentioned.

The observations got here whereas a full Bench led by C. J. Datta had assembled to increase interim orders handed by the a number of courts throughout the State until July 9.

These interim orders embody a keep imposed by the excessive courtroom on April 16 on evicting residents, demolishing residential buildings and so forth. The keep had been granted to guard the residents’ curiosity through the pandemic. However, at the moment, the HC had made it clear that if there was an urgency, or if a building was deemed unsafe and needed to be demolished, the involved municipal authorities had been free to method the HC to hunt permission for a similar.

The HC mentioned that it had remained accessible 24×7 all through the pandemic, and but, no authorities had approached it for demolition permissions.

“Please find out what was the context of her (Mayor’s) statement. Is there a video recording? Inspect the recording. If she feels her statement has been distorted, let her say so. Obtain instructions,” the HC mentioned.

BMC counsel Sakhre mentioned, “A live interview was going on and some questions were being asked. Her answer was taken out of context.” The HC then sought a transcript of the mentioned interview and mentioned it would undergo it.