Vadodara boat tragedy: HC orders action against two former municipal commissioners

Ahmedabad: The Gujarat High Court has asked the state government to take disciplinary action against two former municipal commissioners of Vadodara for a boat capsizing tragedy, observing that they were guilty of dereliction of duty and misuse of official position.

A boat capsized in Harni lake in Vadodara city on January 18, 2024, killing 12 school children and two teachers of a private school who were out on a picnic.

In its order last week on a suo motu public interest litigation (PIL) regarding the tragedy, a division bench led by Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal said that Kotia Projects, which operated and managed the lake at the time, "cannot be said to be a qualified bidder in the process and, as such, there was no question of its selection." The order became available on Tuesday.

Citing the report of the fact-finding committee constituted by the government to look into the lapses on the part of government officials, the judges passed adverse remarks about H S Patel and Vinod Rao, who were municipal commissioners during the relevant period.

"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. In any eventuality, M/s Kotia Projects cannot be said to be a qualified bidder in the process and, as such, there was no question of its selection," the HC said.

As per the fact-finding committee, Patel, who was the municipal commissioner of Vadodara between February 25, 2015 and February 23, 2016, "should have critically looked to the bid of Kotia Projects who had been disqualified in the first round of EOI and who was subsequently qualified in the second round of EOI." Patel was in office during the submission of bids in both the rounds, the court noted.

As to Rao, who held the post between June 25, 2016, to July 17, 2018, the HC noted that two bidders were called to submit their respective final scope of work and price bid. One of them, Mangalam Construction Company, then withdrew from the process.

The fact-finding committee had observed that when one of the two bidders had withdrawn and the second was disqualified in the first round, "the entire tendering exercise could have been reviewed, scrapped and re-invited at this stage." "In our opinion, the entire tendering process should have been "reviewed/scrapped," which is a reflection of sheer illegality in the tendering process," the court observed.

The proposal submitted by Rao to the standing committee on September 23, 2016, to select Kotia Projects as successful bidder, thus, "suffers from grave illegality," it said.

The approval of the standing committee and the general body of the Vadodara Municipal Corporation to the proposal "is a question which raises eyebrows," the court stated.

The Principal Secretary, Urban Development and Urban Housing Department, Government of Gujarat, should "take a serious view of the manner of working of the standing committee and the general body," the high court said.

The court, meanwhile, also strongly disagreed with the fact-finding committee's observation that the bidding process was the same as that generally followed in urban local bodies and therefore no fault can be found in the process.

It appeared that the committee was "trying to cover up the illegality committed in the matter of grant of contract to Kotia Projects," the court said.

Necessary disciplinary action shall be initiated against the erring officials based on the report's findings, and the court should be apprised of the result, it said.