The Supreme Court has listed a plea seeking a probe monitored by a retired judge into Gujarat's Morbi bridge collapse, which has claimed at least 134 lives, for hearing on November 14. The matter was mentioned on Tuesday before Chief Justice of India (CJI) U U Lalit. Advocate Vishal Tiwari, in the public interest litigation petition, said the accident depicted the negligence and utter failure of government authorities, Bar and Bench reported. “From the past decade, various incidents have taken place in our country wherein due to the mismanagement, lapse in duty, negligent maintenance activities, there has been cases of huge public casualties which could have been avoided," the plea said. The Morbi bridge over the Machchhu river in Gujarat collapsed on Sunday (October 30) evening. The 141-year-old suspension bridge was reopened just last week following repairs and maintenance by the Oreva Group. Citing gross negligence and mismanagement, officers at B-division Morbi city police station Sunday lodged a first information report (FIR). The FIR stated, “Due to their gross negligence and careless act of mismanagement, and despite knowing the threat to the life of citizens posed by the bridge, the bridge was opened on October 26, due to which the unfortunate incident happened." According to Bar and Bench, the petition highlighted the need to conduct risk assessment of old bridges and monuments in India to be surveyed and assessed in order to avoid such accidents. It also sought the formation of a Construction Incident Investigation Department for conducting prompt investigation in cases such as this one.
