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The Supreme Court is set to hear on May 8 an application by two directors of the project management consultant, SGS India Private Limited, to quash the FIR against them in the Hatkeshwar Bridge damage case. The company’s directors – Amit Thakkar and Shashibhushan Gojani – were granted temporary relief this week by the Supreme Court until May 8 in a fraud case after the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) accused the company of using sub-standard materials in construction. from the bridge.
The directors of the company, which was awarded a contract to monitor and ensure the quality of work on a day-to-day basis, moved the Supreme Court to annul the FIR after the Gujarat High Court rejected their application on April 24. The bridge has been closed to the public as damage was reported within four years of opening. An FIR has been filed against the Chairman and four directors of Ajay Engi-Infrastructure Private Ltd (AEIPL) and three officers of SGS India Private Limited. Both companies participated in the construction of the bridge.
The April FIR was filed on the same day when Municipal Commissioner M Thenarasan announced the demolition of the ₹40 crore bridge which was supposed to connect Khokhra Road and CTM Cross Road.
Keur Gandhi, a lawyer representing Thakkar and Joghani, said, “They approached the Supreme Court on the grounds that they did not work for the company when the bridge monitoring contract was awarded. They joined the company after the project was completed.” Gandhi, along with Mukul Rohatgi and K. Vishwanathan, for the case on their behalf.
Granting interim relief On May 1, the Supreme Court said: “Petitioners make coercive arrests even though they have specific warrants such that they cannot be linked to the alleged offense that occurred during the period when they were not even connected to the company in question.” Pending a copy of the Order of the High Commissioner, in between the two decades we see fit to extend protection to petitioners against any coercive process.” “At the next hearing, on May 8, an application for extension of relief will be filed, as the directors were not associated with the project when the contract was awarded,” Gandhi added.
Thakkar and Gojani, along with Neelam Patel, the company’s project engineer, have been booked as per the FIR submitted on 15 April.
Four directors of Ajay Engi-Infrastructure Private Limited – Ramesh Patel, Rasik Patel, Chiragkumar Patel and Kalpeshkumar Patel – have also been booked into the FIR. Their application in Sessions Court for anticipatory bail was denied on 1 May.
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