August 11, 2025: The Bombay High Court has revived a 2024 plea on safety lapses at high-rise construction sites following a serious accident in Bhiwandi earlier this week. On August 5, an iron rod from an under-construction metro rail site in neighbouring Thane district fell on a moving autorickshaw, piercing the head of a 20-year-old passenger.
Expressing strong concern over recurring safety breaches, a bench of Justices Girish Kulkarni and Arif Doctor observed that although a committee was formed in 2023 to address such issues, its recommendations had not yet been circulated to all planning authorities.
The matter first came to the court’s attention in 2023, when two bystanders were killed after a cement block fell from the 52nd floor of an under-construction building in Worli. At that time, the HC had directed the formation of a committee to propose safety measures. Quoting its earlier order, the court said it had “expressed a hope that none of the high-rise constructions in the city of Mumbai should make people vulnerable and prone to such accidents in which innocent people would get hurt or lose their lives.”
The bench also held that exposing the public to such hazards in open areas amounted to a violation of the fundamental right to livelihood under Article 21 of the Constitution.
On Thursday, the court was informed that the committee had submitted its report. The judges questioned whether its recommendations were being enforced at construction sites posing public risks. “Such concern of the court as on date is resurrected in view of the recent incident, in which an iron rod fell from the bridge under construction, and pierced the head of an autorickshaw passenger,” the bench stated.
Directing the BMC to submit the safety guidelines, the court urged the state government to circulate them to all municipal and planning authorities, stressing that “these measures are in the larger public interest and therefore, expeditious action in this regard is required to be taken.” The matter will be heard again on August 12.
Source: Business Standard
