CHENNAI: Shifting the blame for the Moulivakkam tragedy which claimed 61 lives on June 28 last on the builder, Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) submitted before Madras High Court that the realty firm had engaged a un-licensed structural engineer who connived in carrying out the construction in contravention of the approved plan.
In the counter affidavit filed on Thursday, CMDA member-secretary faulted Prime Srishti Housing Private Limited, which constructed the ill-fated 11 storey-building, for engaging a non-licensed structural engineer, who had failed to intimate the violations to the authority concerned.
The counter was filed in response to a writ petition from DMK treasurer MK Stalin, seeking a CBI probe into the disaster. It said as per the system in place, for ensuring compliance to structural stability and quality of construction during the construction phase, the Chennai Corporation licenses structural engineers subject to various conditions. One of the conditions is to inspect the building under development for conformity to the various Acts, Rules, Bye-laws and Regulations, which stipulate compliance to building codes. At any given point of time, 150 to 200 multi-storey buildings are under construction in a metropolitan, and it would be impossible for any government agency to monitor this work and that is the reason the professionals in the field are licensed to act on behalf of the local body. The Moulivakkam developer had bypassed this system by engaging an unlicensed structural engineer and as such he had failed to intimate the violations, the counter said.