Gujarat HC rejects probe report into Harni boat tragedy that killed 14

“The report reads like a story…there’s a kind of maze created in the report so we may not be able to reach any conclusion,” said chief justice Sunita Agarwal

Ahmedabad: The Gujarat High Court on Wednesday rejected the state government’s report into the Harni lake tragedy, in which 12 students and two school teachers were killed, saying the probe report created a “kind of a maze” so that the court could not reach a conclusion.

Twelve students and two teachers were killed when a boat capsized in Motnath lake in Harni on January 18 (File photo)

“Either you withdraw this report and file a fresh report, otherwise we will make very serious observations on this report... we will look into the records and pass the order,” a bench of Sunita Agarwal and justice Pranav Trivedi told the state government on Wednesday.

Twelve students and two teachers were killed when a boat capsized in Motnath lake in Harni on January 18

The high court, which took suo moto cognisance of the January 18 tragedy, has been critical of the Vadodara Municipal Corporation on previous hearings as well for the incident in which 14 lives were lost after an overcrowded boat carrying a school group on a picnic overturned in the lake.

“The report reads like a story…there’s a kind of maze created in the report so we may not be able to reach any conclusion,” said justice Agarwal.

The Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) awarded a contract to maintain and operate the lakefront project to a firm, Kotia Projects, whose partners were subsequently arrested for the tragedy.

“The municipal commissioner himself signed the order, only thereafter the work order was issued. He was authorised by the board to take a decision on the grant of tender, he was the sole person. There may be some technical report… A layperson can also understand that this person is not qualifying for the tender. How could the municipal commissioner sign that the tender and work order be issued. Then report says he has done nothing wrong. Okay, alright. We will look into the record and decide…We will say everything in our order,” she said.

Advocate General Kamal Trivedi, appearing for the state government, said the government “will undertake a fresh exercise and file a report.”

Justice Agarwal explained that the report did not explicitly accuse anyone but rather hinted that the then commissioner should have exercised greater caution. She noted that the report also mentioned that it was a common practice for commissioners to typically approve such matters, suggesting any critique of this practice would reflect a systemic issue. “To us, this report is misguiding,” she said adding that the report indicated that the fault lay with technical officers and that action has been taken against them.

The bench also criticised the principal secretary (PS) of the Gujarat government’s Urban Development and Urban Housing Department for preparing and submitting a report that seemed to suggest the municipal corporation should have acted differently, and yet found no fault with their actions.

The bench has fixed July 12 for further hearing on the matter.