The High Court of Delhi on Thursday granted four more weeks to the Delhi government to file a status report on seismic stability of buildings in Delhi.
The Bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad passed the orders on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Advocate Arpit Bhargava.
Appearing for the petitioner, Senior Advocate Ravi Sikri drew the attention of the Court to the Turkey-Syria earthquake of February 6, which measured 7.8 on the Richter Scale and killed around 40,000 people.
As per the Counsel, Delhi fell under seismic zone 4, which was a severe intensity zone. He claimed that due to poor seismic stability of buildings in Delhi, the casualties could increase rapidly in case of a major tremor.
The Bench, however, observed that the Delhi government was equally awake to the situation and that there was nothing adversarial in the petition.
Everyone was worried about their lives and the government should be permitted to file the report, noted the High Court, while listing the matter for further hearing on May 10.
Earlier, the GNCTD had filed a status report in the High Court, saying that it had identified over 10,000 buildings for assessing structural safety, out of which more than 6,000 were asked to show structural safety certificates, while 144 unsafe buildings had been demolished.
The AAP-led government proposed a structural audit of all high-rise buildings in Delhi, while giving priority to those buildings, which were over two decades old.
The Bench pointed out that government agencies, such as the Delhi Cantonment Board, Delhi Development Authority, New Delhi Municipal Council and the Public Works Department, were yet to submit updated information related to earthquake preparedness, despite being asked to do so in December.
Sikri further pointed out that the architect of the High Court’s new building had informed them that the structure was earthquake resistant, but the old buildings had major violations.
Advocate Bhargava had filed a contempt petition in 2020, claiming that the High Court’s earlier orders on making the national capital ready to face any major earthquake have not been complied with yet.
The High Court then issued notice to the AAP government, DDA and the three municipal corporations in December 2020 for not complying with judicial orders on ensuring seismic stability of buildings in Delhi.