Shillong: A division bench of the Meghalaya High Court on Monday disposed of a Public Interest Litigation on the Meghalaya Assembly building dome collapse stating it’s for the state government to take appropriate action in the matter.
“It is for the State to take appropriate action against the builder and the matter pertains to apparently faulty construction or design, the Court does not deem it proper to rush into the case immediately and without allowing the appropriate authorities to deal with the matter in accordance with law,” the bench comprising of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Wanlura Diengdoh stated in their order.
Moreover, the court noted that a high-powered committee is in place to report on the cause of the dome’s collapse and also suggest remedial measures.
The 70-tonne dome was installed at the under-construction Meghalaya assembly building at Mawdiangdiang in New Shillong Township on May 22.
The High Powered Committee of the Meghalaya Assembly headed by Speaker Metbah Lyngdoh had kept the construction of the assembly building in abeyance.
A team of experts from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Guwahati is studying the exact cause of the dome collapse and to conduct a technical audit of the building.
The IIT-Guwahati would be submit its report and then the government would be taking action if anyone is found guilty.
The design was conceptualised by M/s Design Associates Limited. The civil work on the dome was being done by Uttar Pradesh Rajkiya Nirman Nigam Limited.
Leader of Opposition Dr Mukul Manda Sangma has said both these companies are already under the CBI’s scanner for irregularities in a 2018 case pertaining to the allotment of projects.
Meghalaya has not had a permanent Assembly building since the old wooden one of 1937 vintage was reduced to ashes in a fire in 2001.
The 60-member House is temporarily functioning from the auditorium adjacent to the heritage Brookside Bungalow, which had once been the retreat of Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore.
Work on the new Assembly building at Mawdiangdiang on the outskirts of Shillong was started in June 2019 and was to be completed by August 2022.
Meanwhile, the High Court said that the public is at liberty to raise the issue of the dome collapse again “in the event they are not appropriately dealt with by the administration.
