Vadodara tragedy: Draft rules formed to regulate boating activities, Guj govt tells HC

Ahmedabad, Jul 12 (PTI) The Gujarat government on Friday informed the High Court that it has prepared draft rules to regulate boating activities so that tragedies like the January 18 capsize incident in Vadodara do not recur.

Twelve students and two teachers died when a boat capsized in Motnath lake in Harni area of Vadodara city on January 18.

A division bench of Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal and Justice Pranav Trivedi is hearing a suo motu (on its own) PIL on the incident.

During the hearing on Friday, Advocate General Kamal Trivedi informed the bench that the state government has formulated Gujarat Inland Vessel (Registration, Survey and Operation of Category 'C' Inland Vessels) Rules 2024 under the Inland Vessels Act of 2021.

Category 'C' vessel means any pleasure craft or boat of less than 10 meters length, said Trivedi.

The rules, which have been put on public domain for inviting suggestions, provides for registration of boat owners, procedure to acquire fitness certificate for boats, inspection by surveyor, roles and responsibility of boat operator, mentioning capacity on the boat, installation of fire and life saving equipment on the boat, among others.

For effective inspection and monitoring of boating activity, the state government will form 'district waterside safety committee' or DWSC under the magistrate or commissioner of police in each district and four major cities, said Trivedi.

"The DWSC shall conduct annual inspections to ensure compliance of sanctioned activities as per these Rules. The DWSC may issue such directions and guidelines as may be deemed fit and proper. Any contravention of the rules shall entail the imposition of penalties as per the provisions of the Act," he said.

Out of 42 water bodies (lakes and ponds) in the state, boating or water sport activity is carried out at only four places, including at a lake in Dang and Panchmuli lake near Statue of Unity in Narmada district.

Referring to the Vadodara incident, Trivedi informed the court that though the rules say schools are required to take permission from the Education Department for taking students out on picnics, the school in question did not do so.

When the Chief Justice opined that the school should be held responsible for flouting the 2019 order of the Education Department, Trivedi said a penalty has already been imposed on the management and a formal warning will also be given.

As requested by the advocate representing kin of the victims, the bench ordered to implead New Sunrise School and Kotia Projects, which was awarded the contract to run the boating service by the Vadodara Municipal Corporation at Motnath lake in Harni area.

The HC issued notices to both the new respondents and kept further hearing after four weeks.

During a previous hearing, the bench had asked the state government to take disciplinary action against two former municipal commissioners of Vadodara for the boat capsize tragedy, observing that they were guilty of dereliction of duty and misuse of official position.

The HC had also said Kotia Projects, which operated and managed the lake at the time, "cannot be said to be a qualified bidder in the process and, as such, there was no question of its selection".

Citing the report of the fact-finding committee constituted by the government to look into the lapses on the part of officials, the judges passed adverse remarks about H S Patel and Vinod Rao, who were municipal commissioners during the relevant period. PTI PJT PD BNM