Recently Gujarat High Court at Ahmedabad reprimand state government over the committee report on the Harni boat tragedy of Vadodara claiming 14 lives. The court noticed that the report, which read like a ‘story’, tried to concealed factual information of the matter with its language.The court asked the government about the role of municipal commissioners and their involvement in the execution of the tender. It appeared that the report leads the court far from a conclusion. The state government admitted that there was a role for municipal commissioners in the tender procedure, from the beginning till the end of the procedure. The court asked the government on the report pinpointing fault of technical officers/junior level officers, and trying to safeguard municipal commissioner.
The report was intended to investigate the role of the municipal commissioner in the tender process, not to hold junior officials accountable stated court. Even The inquiry committee did not show any fault or criminal negligence of the municipal commissioner. Court can order on the report but the report is not even fit to be presented before the court it added. The court said that Kotiya Project was awarded the contract on approval of VMC Vadodara Municipal Corporation. The court observed that anyone could see that the company was incompetent enough to award the contract. HC asked the government to withdraw report and conduct a fresh probe into the entire matter – including taking departmental action, disciplinary action against all responsible top officials, informing the court of the outcome, and submitting an action-taken report.
As per media source.
