Wadala wall collapse: Bombay HC asks IIT-B to set up expert team to suggest measures

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Saturday asked the director of IIT-Bombay to set up an expert team comprising structural engineers and others to inspect the site of the recent wall collapse at Wadala in Mumbai and suggest remedial measures.

A division bench of Justices A S Oka and Riyaz Chagla was hearing a petition filed by Dosti Blossom Society, challenging the permission granted to Dosti Realty to construct high-rises in the area.

"The IIT director shall set up the team and the said team shall visit the site and suggest what immediate remedial measures should be undertaken," the court said. Society's lawyer Atul Damle said the construction was causing damage to the existing buildings in the area, including Dosti Blossom.

Referring to the June 25 incident, in which the compound wall of Lloyd Building adjacent to the construction site of Dosti Realty collapsed, burying several cars in the debris, Damle demanded that the realty firm be asked not to carry out further construction.

Dosti Blossom residents moved the court after Monday's incident.

The bench has posted the matter for further hearing on July 6 by when the Indian Institute of Technology team will have to submit its initial report.

Lawyer of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Anil Sakhre had on Friday told the court a stop-work notice has already been issued to Dosti Realty, and only remedial work of backfill and concretisation of the collapsed wall was on.