The State government has to take care that that proper constructions are made under any scheme which involves public money, so that it is not misused by contractors, and engineers who approve shoddy constructions are brought to book without delay, said the High Court of Karnataka.
The court made these observations while pointing out that the court, in a plethora of cases, had come across contractors undertaking shoddy constructions particularly of low-income group and mid-income group houses, and in certain cases in high-income group houses under public projects.
Justice M. Nagaprasanna made the observation while rejecting a petition filed by Mysuru-based M/s PG Setty Construction Technology Pvt. Ltd. The company had questioned the action of the Karnataka State Police Housing and Infrastructure Development Corporation in encashing bank guarantee of ₹1.15 crore for shoddy work of construction of police residential quarters by the company in Mandya and Chamarajanagar districts.
“The bank guarantee is not furnished for it to be photo-framed and hung on the wall. It has a purpose. The purpose is redeemed by the corporation and cannot be found fault with,” the court observed, while pointing out that company did not care to address the shoddy works pointed out by the corporation soon after completion of construction of residential quarters.
The court rejected the company’s claim it was liable only for structural defects and not the ones pointed out by the corporation.
“It is rather surprising how the engineers of the corporation or the engineers concerned have cleared the bills without inspecting the construction and its quality, as complaints of cracks and leakages have arisen immediately after the completion certificate is issued,” the court observed.
