Bowring Hospital wall collapse: Lokayukta to book Chief Secretary, GBA Chief commissioner and top officials in Suo Motu case

Commissioners of five city corporations, Commissioner and Additional Chief Secretary of Medical Education Department and other senior officials linked to Bengaluru city administration will be named as accused.

Bengaluru: In a major development following the Bowring Hospital wall collapse, the Lokayukta has decided to register a case against senior government officials, including Chief Secretary Shalini Rajneesh and GBA Chief Commissioner Maheshwar Rao, DCP East, and traffic police officers and local police jurisdictional staff.

Meanwhile, Commercial Street police have registered a case of unnatural death and held no one responsible for the mishap.

Lokayukta Justice B S Patil told DH that commissioners of five city corporations, the Commissioner and Additional Chief Secretary of the Medical Education Department, and other senior officials linked to Bengaluru city administration will be named as accused.

“All of them will be made parties and the case will proceed and I've all officials details,” he told DH.

Speaking to DH, Patil said, "After a preliminary inspection, we indicated that a weak foundation could have led to the collapse and negligence is blamed for the mishap.

"Such incidents recur during rains in the city. Despite knowing that heavy rains are an annual occurrence, authorities have allowed street vendors to operate near vulnerable structures without any safety measures,” he said.

Patil noted that similar incidents have occurred in the past and stressed that the authorities should have identified and flagged risky structures and areas.

"Civic agencies should have exercised greater caution," he added.

“It's a serious lapse that a wall collapsed after just about an hour of rain,” Patil remarked.