Malwani building collapse: Nothing but lawlessness, says Bombay HC, starts probe

The Bombay High Court on Friday initiated a judicial inquiry into the building collapse incident in Malwani area of Mumbai which claimed 12 livesIt said that the incident proved that there existed absolute lawlessness in the municipal wards in Mumbai as well as its adjoining areasAt least 12 people including eight children were killed and seven others injured after two floors of a threestorey residential building collapsed on an adjoining singlestorey house at Malwani in suburban Mumbai late on Wednesday nightA 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 24The bench said that it had been immensely pained by the incident in which eight innocent children lost their livesAlso Read lsquoI told him to escape but it was too late by thenrsquo Malwani bldg crash survivors struggle with regret griefThe court said that those in charge of the concerned municipal ward must be held accountableIt further noted that between May 15 and June 10 this year four incidents of building collapse were reported in Mumbai and its adjoining areas in which a total of 24 people diedWhat 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 saidYou municipal authorities cant 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 saidThe HC said that there was no will among the civic officials to check the instances of illegal construction or to demolish illegal structuresThis is nothing but lawlessness You can realise the pain we are facing due to the death of people including innocent children the high court saidThis pain should also be felt by the corporators We are shocked This is a manmade disaster and nothing else Every monsoon it has to happen Why it cannot be prevented the high court askedThe bench was presiding over a PIL that it had initiated suo motu on its own last year following an incident of building collapse at Bhiwandi in Thane districtWhile the PIL was not scheduled initially for a hearing on Friday the bench sought its production after taking suo motu cognisance of the Malwani incidentThe HC will continue the hearing on June 24Earlier in the day the high court also asked the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC to ascertain the context in which Mayor Kishori Pednekar had referred to a previous HC order while answering questions related to the Malwani building collapse incidentA bench led by Chief Justice Dipankar Datta directed senior counsel Anil Sakhre who represents the BMC to inspect the video footage of the said conversation between Pednekar and media persons and to inform the court of the context in which she had made the statementThe high court was referring to a news report published in a regional newspaper on Friday in which Pednekar was quoted as referring to a stay order of the high court on eviction and demolition of buildings during the pandemic as one of the factors behind the Malwani incidentWe 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 high court saidWe 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 usrdquo the HC saidThe observations came while a full bench led by CJ Datta had assembled to extend interim orders passed by the several courts across the state till July 9These interim orders include a stay imposed by the high court on April 16 on evicting citizens demolishing residential buildings etc The stay had been granted to protect the citizens interest during the pandemic However at that time the HC had made it clear that if there was an urgency or if a building was deemed unsafe and had to be demolished the concerned municipal authorities were free to approach the HC to seek permission for the sameThe HC said that it had remained available 24x7 throughout the pandemic and yet no authorities had approached it for demolition permissionsPlease find out what was the context of her Mayors 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 saidBMC counsel Sakhre said ldquoA live interview was going on and some questions were being asked Her answer was taken out of contextrdquoThe HC then sought a transcript of the said interview and said it will go through itThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever