KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Tuesday orally directed the state not to demolish the Palarivattom flyover until October 10, even though the government has been allowed to proceed with other formalities.
A division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice CK Abdul Rehim and Justice Narayana Pisharady issued the order on two petitions seeking to restrain the government from demolishing the flyover without conducting load test to assess its structural stability. The court also directed the government to file a statement or affidavit in response to the allegations of the petitioners.
The counsel for the petitioners submitted that IIT Madras had recommended only repair work of the flyover. The government, however, hastily decided to reconstruct the flyover based on the recommendation of Metro Man E Sreedharan. In fact, a load test should be conducted to ascertain its structural stability.
The state submitted the decision to demolish or reconstruct the flyover was based on experts’ opinion.
The court observed that it was for the government to decide whether to demolish or reconstruct the flyover based on the experts’ opinion. The court could only consider whether there were sufficient materials before the government to reach such a conclusion.