Chintels collapse due to structural design failure, says contractor

On February 10, 2022, renovations at a sixth-floor flat in Tower D led to the ceiling of a bedroom collapsing, causing a cascade effect in which portions of flats caved in all the way down to the first floor

The collapse of six floors of a tower in the Chintels Paradiso condominium in Gurugram was due to a structural design failure, Bhayana Builders Pvt Ltd, the contractor of the project, said in a press statement issued on Tuesday.

Following the collapse, the Haryana government filed a criminal case against the developer, and transferred the investigation from the police to Central Bureau of Investigation last January. (HT Archive)

On February 10, 2022, renovations at a sixth-floor flat in Tower D led to the ceiling of a bedroom collapsing, causing a cascade effect in which portions of flats caved in all the way down to the first floor. Following the incident, the Haryana government filed a criminal case against the developer, and transferred the investigation from the police to Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) last January.

CBI filed a supplementary charge sheet on January 6 this year before the court of special judicial magistrate Vinod Kumar in Panchkula, Haryana.

On Tuesday, the contractor said that they appointed a design firm in 2016 that identified design issues in the structure that had led to the collapse.

“We are deeply shocked to see our name included as one of the parties in the charge sheet in light of the fact that the High Court of Delhi on 08.07.2022 has already upheld the 03.05.2019 tribunals judgement that Chintels Paradiso is a clear-cut structural design failure,” Bhayana Builders said in a statement.

The statement cited that the award given by a three-member arbitral tribunal on May 3, 2019, which observed that cracks are not due to bad quality of workmanship but due to failure of structural design. This award was later validated by a Delhi high court order on July 8, 2022, the contractor said.

When asked about the matter, a spokesperson for Chintels India Limited, however, put the onus for the collapse on the contractor. “Both the IIT report and the CBI investigation confirmed that the use of bad water is the cause of quick deterioration in the project. The responsibility of all material quality (including water) and workmanship is of Bhayana Builders as per our contract. The steel corrosion is because of the water. We have faith in the investigation conducted by CBI.”