YUNUS RAZZAK SHAIKH Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These Revisions are filed by Accused on the premise that there is no 'contractual relationship' or there is no 'professional commitment' supported by documents which is the foundation for prosecuting them and if it is so, they cannot be charged. They have been charge sheeted by Mahad Police Station for being responsible for causing the death of 16 persons and causing injuries to various persons and it is due to collapse of multi-storey building. There is an allegation that there was total careless approach in taking precaution and it was of such a magnitude that the building could not last long and collapsed within 6 years of its construction.

(2.) As everyone knows, developing the property involves various steps to be undertaken right from selecting the site, preparing building plans, getting approvals from Local Authority, doing construction as per the sanctioned plan and using standard building material and so on. So also, in any such construction activity, there are various persons involved right from the owner of the land, the person undertaken the responsibility described as a developer (who may not be having technical knowledge of carrying out construction but he is the person who can raise financial and human resources), the persons who actually do the construction, the persons from whom raw materials are purchased and labourers.

(3.) In this case, the prosecution claims that at every stage of construction activity, there was deliberate go-bye to the standard requirements of construction activity by all the stakeholders and that is why, the building collapsed within 6 years of construction and that too, without any external force and the building collapsed just like the play cards used by the children causing causalities to 16 persons.