Sadly, it has taken numerous building collapses across our top cities to infuriate the Indian judicial system.
My Cookie Crumbled In The Chai
No worries because far more serious things, like standalone residential buildings and 700-apartment housing societies are crumbling and falling apart as you read this, and in most cases humans are losing life and limb.
Are Safe Buildings Our Right?
Oh yes. On Saturday, the Bombay High Court clarified that right to livelihood under Article 21 includes the right to live in safe buildings and houses.
A Bench comprising Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice GS Kulkarni further reiterated that instances of people losing their lives due to building collapses need to be eradicated completely.
This came up during the hearing of a public interest litigation (PIL) initiated suo motu (on its own without request) to address the issue of crumbling buildings and illegal constructions in Maharashtra.
Will Someone Be Held Responsible?
Again, to clarify, the court stressed that the owner of the building, private or public, had a constitutional obligation to ensure the safety of the building premises.
The Bench also said that "
strong arms of law" are required to punish the disorderly in order to save people from "unscrupulous elements" indulging in illegal constructions.
The Way Ahead?
Saturday's court order requisitioned a mechanism to empower concerned officers to enforce an audit of buildings as required by law, and buildings found structurally unsafe must be vacated so that further lives are not lost.
Our question: Can this be enforced nationally? Like ASAP?
