Delhi High Court pulls up municipal bodies, says Nepal-like earthquake will lead to death of lakhs

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday rapped the city's municipal corporations for "dereliction of duty" and allowing buildings to come up without complying with regulations saying it may result in death of lakhs of people if an earthquake, like that in Nepal, occurs here.

A bench of Justices Badar Durrez Ahmed and Sanjeev Sachdeva made the observation after it was told by a civic body that about 80 per cent of the buildings in Delhi have come up without complying with regulations, including those of structural stability.

The court also observed that since 80 per cent of the structures have come up without following the regulations, if a earthquake like the one in Nepal occurs here, the casualties would not be in thousands but in lakhs. 

The court observed that since 80 per cent of the structures have come up without following the regulations.

It issued notice to the Delhi government and municipal corporations seeking their responses by May 20 on a PIL questioning how safe were the structures in the national capital if an earthquake of a huge magnitude happens here.

The court also directed the civic authorities to file status reports, in 10 days, indicating whether policy with regard to structural stability of buildings in Delhi were being implemented keeping in mind that national capital falls in seismic zone (SZ) IV.

SZ IV is called a high damage risk zone which can expect the second highest level of earthquakes.

The civic bodies have also been directed to indicate in their reports whether buildings in the city are complying with the structural stability norms prescribed in the National Building Code (NBC) for SZ IV.

The court, during the hearing, also observed that in areas like Karol Bagh in the national capital, majority of the buildings have been constructed in violation of norms.

It said that while the regulations only provide for three-storey buildings, those in Karol Bagh are usually six-storeys tall.

The petition, by a lawyer, has also asked what kind of action plan does the corporation have to tackle the issue.