Mumbai, Nov 15 (TOI): Shoddy construction of the proposed 17-storey Mazgaon court building that will put the lives of judges, lawyers and litigants at risk will not be tolerated, said the Bombay high court.

A division bench of Justices Satyaranjan Dharmadhikari and Bharati Dangre rapped the state and its public works department for not spelling out how the construction would be supervised. The bench directed the court registrar to appoint "an expert, particularly experienced in structural designing preferably a leading architect, to visit the site, inspect the construction material and the work and submit a report." The next hearing is on December 13.

"We had very clearly set out that we do not want a repeat scenario," said the judges, referring to the fact that the original buildi-ng was declared unsafe and evacuated in 2013, merely 16 years after it was constructed in 1997. The court said it was yet to be shown any documents about the credibility of the contractor appointed to construct the building, or its past experience in constructing buildings in the island city. "We do not have any track record of their experience and expertise. It could very well be a government contractor who does not care for quality of the work. We have repeatedly noticed that the construction activity under the public works department is known for lacking in quality," said the judges, adding, "we do not want any contractors to come up and construct such buildings and which would again be rendered unsafe going by the past experience."

The court rapped the authorities for their indifference. "The superintending engineer and the departmental engineer must realize that if they do not visit or reside or have any office or work in such court buildings, that does not mean those at risk, namely the innocent clients, litigants, advocates and court staff, including the judges must suffer. We cannot compromise with their safety and security," the judge said.

The state had assured the HC that work on the court building would be completed by August 2020 at a cost of over Rs 92 crore.