Court serves notices in shivalik case

The controversy over the Shivalik building situated in Ambawadi, shifted its ground to Judiciary on Thursday with the Gujarat high court issuing notices to the Ahmedabad Municipal Commissioner K Kailasnathan, state finance minister Vaju Vala and Chiman Agrawal, the builder, following a public interest litigation.

The division bench of Chief Justice D.M. Dharamadhikari and Justice P.B. Majmudar served notices to the respondents and fixed the next hearing of the matter on February 26.

The PIL prayed for the court’s directions to the municipal authorities to demolish the hazardous structure and direct an inquiry by an independent agency like the Central Bureau of Investigation in the matter.

The petition submitted that Shivalik building, a 10-storied structure that houses offices and shops in Ambawadi area in Ahmedabad, was seriously damaged during the Republic Day quake.

According to the petition, the building received damages in its structure to the extent that it has endangered the life of several people working there. The petitioner said that Chiman Agrawal the builder was also involved in the construction of Shikhar building in Vejalpur area which collapsed on the Republic Day leaving 90 people dead.

The petition alleged that owing to political pressure the municipal authorities did not declare the building as inhabitable and restrained from pulling it down or demolishing it.

The petitioner said that the state finance minister Vaju Vala had cordial relations with the building and the pressure from his side was restraining them to take any action against the building.

The petitioner also cited the press release from the AMC and the newspaper reports which said that the AMC had decided to pull down Shivalik because of its hazardous nature.

However, the political pressure compelled the authorities not to execute demolition against the building and table it under the category for minor repairs. Reportedly, the municipal corporation had withdrawn the building use permission of the building on Tuesday evening.

Republished from Asian Age