Morbi suo motu PIL should be laid to rest: State, Oreva submit before Gujarat HC

The state, represented by Advocate General Kamal Trivedi, also informed the court that the Morbi municipality has been superseded and that “it is time to give a quietus” to the PIL.

Senior advocate Nirupam Nanavaty, representing the Oreva Group, too, added, “Amount (interim compensation of Rs 10 lakh to each of the 135 deceased’s kin, and Rs 2 lakh each to the 56 injured) is deposited, municipality is superseded, chief officer is suspended and those who are from the company (Oreva Group), including MD (Jaysukh Patel), is in judicial custody. As such nothing remains.”

The deck of Jhulto Pul, the suspension bridge across the Machchhu river in Morbi, had plunged into the river after its upstream cable snapped only four days after Patel’s company, which was responsible for the operations and maintenance of the bridge, threw it open to the public, killing 135 persons. Patel, two managers, two ticket-booking clerks at the bridge, three security guards and a private fabrication contractor and his father have been charged. by the police in the case.

With the GSLSA tasked with disbursing the interim compensation amount deposited by the company to the victims, the court on Tuesday kept the PIL pending, pending confirmation from GSLSA on the disbursement status. The HC will hear the case next on July 10.