Morbi Bridge collapse: PIL filed before Supreme Court seeking judicial probe headed by retired judge

A lawyer moved the Supreme Court on Monday seeking the constitution of a judicial commission headed by a retired Supreme Court judge to investigate the Morbi Bridge collapse in Gujarat [Vishal Tiwari v Union of India]..In the public interest litigation (PIL) petition, advocate Vishal Tiwari said that the accident leading to the collapse of Morbi bridge resulting in more than 137 casualties, depicted the negligence and utter failure of government authorities.“From 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 matter was mentioned before Chief Justice of India (CJI) UU Lalit on Tuesday by Tiwari."You are very quick. What are your prayers," the CJI asked. "I am seeking a judicial enquiry commission," Tiwari responded.The CJI then directed that the matter be listed on November 14..The Morbi Bridge collapsed in Gujarat on 30 October, 2022. The 141-year-old suspension bridge over the Machchuu River collapsed after it was reopened just last week following repairs and maintenance by a private operator, the Oreva Group..The petitioner pointed out that as per the First Information Report (FIR), the bridge was opened on October 26 after repair and maintenance despite knowing that it posed a threat to life..It was further submitted that at the time of collapse, the bridge had more than 500 people on it which was over the permissible limit..As per the plea, no fitness certificate was taken by the private operator before reopening the bridge and there was no administrative supervision by government authorities.“Such shows no concern for human life and it is an utter dreadful act of violation of human rights that is the breach of right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution,” the plea said..Additionally, the plea highlighted the need for various other old bridges and monuments in India to be surveyed and assessed in order to avoid such casualties in future.Therefore, the petitioner also requested that directions be issued to all States to form committees to conduct risk assessment of all old and risky monuments, bridges etc. to ensure safety and environmental viability..Finally, the petitioner also sought formation of a Construction Incident Investigation Department for conducting prompt investigation in cases such as this one.