Wall collapse: firm moves HC for resuming warehouse operations

A petition has been filed in the Madras High Court by a private firm seeking to restrain officials from interfering with operations of its warehouse the compund wall of which collapsed killing 11 persons recently near here.
Gati Kintetsu Express Private Limited, headquartered in Secundrabad, Andhra Pradesh, sought a direction to the District Collector of Thiruvallur or his sub-ordinates not to interfere with the operations of its warehouse and obstruct it from continuing its business activity.
When the petition came up for hearing before Justice M. Sathyanarayanan, Additional Government Pleader P.Sanjay Gandhi accepted the notice on behalf of the Collector and sought time to file a reply.

The petitioner submitted that on July 6 last a portion of the compound wall of the warehouse, taken on rent by the company, collapsed leading to the loss of lives of 11 workers who were living in an adjacent property. A 19-year-old man was rescued from debris.
On the day of the mishap, the Revenue Divisional Officer orally instructed them to suspend the warehouse operations until further instructions.
Police arrested the owner of the warehouse. The company representatives have also appeared before the police who have summoned them and provided all details regarding the lease of the warehouse.

The petitioner company submitted that even after the rescue operations were completed, they were not allowed by the police officials to continue their business activities under instructions of the Collector.

It further said they have stored goods worth several crores of rupees, including life-saving drugs and electronic items, which have to be supplied to various regular customers.
Because of the "unreasonable oral restrictions", they were restrained from operating the warehouse even after normalcy had been restored.
The action of the District Collector and his subordinates in orally instructing the company to suspend the warehouse operations beyond reasonable time was arbitrary, unreasonable and causing grave hardship and loss to them, the petition contended.