Court takes suo motu cognisance of Porayar bus depot deaths

When the first bench comprising Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice M Sundar commenced their sitting on Monday, advocate RY George Williams made a mention about the incident and sough the court’s intervention on the issue. He submitted that besides the bus depot that had collapsed many other depots were under similar dilapidated conditions and required urgent attention. 

Recording his submissions, the bench suo motu took up the case and ordered notice to both the transport secretary and TNSTC. The bench then directed the State to provide adequate treatment to the injured, compensation to victims and families of the deceased. The bench also directed the Sate to conduct inspection of all structures and renovate them. 

The collapsed building was constructed in 1952. The victims were the crew members of the TNSTC and were sleeping in the building, when they were crushed to death. Of the eight persons killed in the incident, seven were TNSTC drivers, while one of them was a bus conductor.