High Court questions Gujarat on Morbi Bridge tragedy

The Gujarat High Court on Tuesday sought to know from the state government how the Morbi municipality, without floating a tender, awarded the contract to maintain the suspension bridge that collapsed on October 31, killing 135 people.

A division bench of Chief Justice Arvind Kumar and Justice Ashotosh Shastri ordered the government to "forthwith secure the entire files" related to the suspension bridge, including the memorandum of understanding signed between the municipality and Ajanta Manufacturing in 2008, and submit those to the court in a sealed cover by Thursday.It also asked the state government to explain the disciplinary proceedings it had initiated against Morbi's chief municipality officer, SP Zala, and other officials, or provide the reasons if it had not taken any action so far.

The court noted that even after the term of the 2008 contract ended in 2017, the company continued to maintain and manage the bridge for another two years without any agreements.


It asked whether the state government or the municipality had taken any steps to a float tender for the maintenance, repair and management of the bridge.

The state needs to file its affidavit on these matters by November 24.