HC cites irregularities in Vadodara Lake development months after boat capsize

The Gujarat high court has pointed out irregularities in the award of the contract for the development of Harni Lake months after 12 schoolchildren and two teachers drowned there after an overcrowded boat with insufficient life jackets capsized on January 18. “In our tentative opinion, both the Municipal Commissioners posted at the relevant point of time, are guilty of dereliction of duty and misuse of their position,” said a bench of Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal and Justice Pranav Trivedi on June 3. The court said that Kotia Projects was initially disqualified during Patel’s tenure in the first round of expression of interest for the lake development due to a lack of financial capacity and work experience as it was a new entity established on October 5, 2015. “The proposal submitted by the then Municipal Commissioner Dr Vinod R Rao to qualify M/s Kotia Projects as successful bidder to the Standing Committee on 23.09.2016, thus, suffers from grave illegality.” Advocate-general Kamal Trivedi, representing the state government, informed the court that based on the observations in a fact-finding report, a competent authority will initiate disciplinary action against the erring officers as per the All India Services Rules, 1969, and the All India Services Rules, 1958. The court last week rejected the state government’s report on the boat tragedy, saying it created a “kind of a maze” so that no conclusion could be reached.