AHMEDABAD: On Monday, the Gujarat High Court took suo motu notice of the collapse of the Morbi bridge and ordered the state government to submit a report within a week.

The suo motu Public Interest Litigation was started by the high court bench that included Chief Justice Arvind Kumar and Justice A.J. Shastri (PIL). When the case is scheduled for another hearing on November 14, the court ordered the government to submit an action taken report on or before that date.

"The tragedy in which hundreds of residents perished untimely and their death was disappointing," the first division bench said. The judge stated, "Mr. Advocate General, we have taken suo motu notice of the hundred premature deaths that have occurred. What steps has the state government made thus far? That is what we want to know." The court further ordered that the Morbi Municipality, the State Human Rights Commission, the Urban Development Department, the State Home Department, and the Chief Secretary of Gujarat be added as parties to the lawsuit.
It has asked the State Human Rights Commission for a different report.

After hearing news reports about the unfortunate event, the Chief Justice had ordered the High Court Registrar General to begin suo motu on October 31 itself. The court did not hear the case that day because of the Diwali holiday.
Over 135 people lost their lives on October 30 when a 141-year-old suspension bridge in Gujarat's Morbi town collapsed over the Machchu river. Nine people have been detained by the police thus far, including two managers of the clock-making company Oreva.

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