Hatkeshwar bridge: SC to hear plea on May 8
Four directors of Ajay Engi-Infrastructure Private Limited - Ramesh Patel, Rasik Patel, Chiragkumar Patel and Kalpeshkumar Patel - were also booked in the FIR.
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Last month, AMC decided to demolish the bridge. (Express Photo) The Supreme Court is set to hear on May 8 an application by two directors of project management consultant, SGS India Private Limited, to quash the FIR against them in the Hatkeshwar Bridge damage case. The two directors of the firm – Amit Thakkar and Shashibhushan Jogani – were provided interim relief this week by the apex court till May 8 in a cheating case after the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) accused the firm of using sub-standard material in the construction of the bridge.
The directors of the firm, which was given the contract to monitor and ensure the quality of work on a daily basis, moved the top court for the quashing of the FIR after their application was rejected by the Gujarat High Court on April 24. The bridge was closed for public as damages were reported within four years of opening. An FIR was filed against the chairman and four directors of the Ajay Engi-Infrastructure Private Ltd (AEIPL) and three officials of SGS India Private Limited. The two firms were involved in the bridge construction.
The FIR was lodged in April on the same day when Municipal Commissioner M Thennarasan announced the demolition of the Rs 40-crore bridge that was meant to connect Khokhra and CTM Cross Road.
Keyur Gandhi, the advocate representing Thakkar and Jogani, said, “They approached the High Court on the grounds that they did not work in the company when the contract to monitor the bridge was given. They joined the firm after the project was completed.” Gandhi, along with Mukul Rohatagi and K. Vishwanathan, is defending the case on their behalf.
Granting temporary relief on May 1, the top court stated, “The petitioners apprehend coercive processes though they have specific submissions to make they cannot be correlated with the alleged offence which took place during the period they were not even connected with the company concerned. While we are inclined to wait for a copy of the order passed by the HC, in the interregnum, deem it appropriate to extend protection to the petitioners against any coercive process.” “In the next hearing, on May 8, the request to extend the relief will be made, as the directors were not associated with the project when the contract was given ,” added Gandhi.
Thakkar and Jogani, along with Nilam Patel, a project engineer at the firm, were booked under in the FIR filed on April 15.
Four directors of Ajay Engi-Infrastructure Private Limited – Ramesh Patel, Rasik Patel, Chiragkumar Patel and Kalpeshkumar Patel – were also booked in the FIR. Their plea in the Sessions Court for anticipatory bail was rejected on May 1.
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