HC tells Delhi govt, civic bodies, DDA to submit action taken report against unsafe buildings

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday directed the Delhi government and the civic bodies among various agencies to submit what action has been taken against

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday directed the Delhi government and the civic bodies among various agencies to submit what action has been taken against the owners of buildings that require seismic structure stability after a plea was filed alleging the lack of preparedness in case an earthquake hits the city.

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A bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and justice Prateek Jalan also sought to know from the municipal bodies and the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) as to what steps they have taken after identifying and issuing notices to the high-risk buildings in need of seismic stability.

The court also sought to know from the Delhi government whether any expert committee has been set up, as proposed by a notification of April last year, to look into seismic stability of the buildings in the city.

The court’s order came on a plea by Arpit Bhargava, a lawyer, seeking setting up of a monitoring committee to ensure timely implementation of the action plan for strengthening buildings in Delhi.

He said that between April 12 and July 3, 14 earthquakes struck the Delhi-National Capital Region.

He also said that since the Centre has not filed any response or affidavit, there is no clarity whether buildings like Vigyan Bhawan, Shastri Bhawan and others where high ranking officials work are seismically compliant or not.

The Delhi government on Wednesday launched an awareness programme aimed at ensuring residences, offices, schools, and other private and public spaces prepared to deal with earthquakes.

“Considering the frequency of earthquakes in Delhi since April this year, the Delhi government has launched an awareness campaign on steps to be taken by people during and after an earthquake. The campaign aims at making homes, offices, schools, and other commercial and residential spaces fully prepared and efficiently deal with earthquakes… The campaign will also help people be well-prepared and take measures to minimise the damage and effects of the earthquakes,” said a statement issued by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s office on Wednesday.

Advocate Arjun Pant, representing DDA, told the court that letters have been issued to the owner of 19 high-rise buildings (height 15 metres or above), which were sanctioned before March 21, 2001, to initiate the process of structural safety audit and submit the first action taken report in 30 days.

In separate affidavits, the civic bodies have listed the steps taken pursuant to the last order.

“Visual survey is also being conducted and for buildings identified as structurally vulnerable, letters are being issued to the owner(s)/occupier(s) of all high rise buildings which were sanctioned after March 3, 2001, to initiate the process of structural safety audit and submit the first action taken report in 30 days,” the North body said in the affidavit.

Other civic bodies also filed similar affidavits that between the three of them they have employed 144 structural engineers to audit the stability of buildings under their jurisdiction.

The application was filed in Bhargava’s main petition filed in 2015 claiming that the seismic stability of buildings in Delhi was poor and in case of a major earthquake there could be large numbers of casualties.

The petition is still pending before the high court which from time to time has directed the Delhi government and civic authorities to develop an action plan.