KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Thursday said the Palarivattom flyover should not be demolished without its permission.
The court also directed the government to consider conducting a load test engaging either IIT Kanpur, IIT Mumbai or any agency specialised in bridges to assess the strength of the structure.
A division bench comprising Justice A M Shaffique and Justice T V Anilkumar issued the order on two petitions seeking to restrain the state government from demolishing and reconstructing the flyover without conducting a load test as prescribed by the Bureau of Indian Standards.
The petitioners, as well as the contractor and consultants KITCO, opined the strength of the bridge could be assessed only after a load test as per the provisions of the contract.
According to the petitioners, though the government had decided to demolish the bridge based on some reports, no load test was conducted despite it being the basic test to gauge strength.