'Death by glass door': Consider amending rules, Kerala high court tells govt

KOCHI: The Kerala high court on Friday asked the state government to consider amending building rules to ensure that safety glasses are being used in buildings.
A division bench comprising chief justice S Manikumar and justice Shaji P Chaly directed the government to consider a representation demanding such action and take a decision within one month.
The court issued the directive after considering a public interest litigation (WP-C No. 15229/2020) filed by Siddique Babu I through advocate A Rajasimhan. The PIL was filed after a woman died after when she hit a glass door at a bank at Perumbavoor.
Through the PIL, the petitioner had sought a directive to the government to ensure that door glasses at all public and private buildings are replaced with safety glasses.
Unsafe annealed door glasses are being used on public, private, commercial, and domestic buildings. Following the woman’s death at Perumbavoor, Ernakulam district collector issued an order under Disaster Management Act for using toughened glass in commercial buildings. Similar orders were issued by district collectors of Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam also, the petition had said.
The time limits prescribed in these orders are already over and the district administrations are not implementing them, the petitioner had alleged. As executive orders are issued without any penal provision, they lack mechanism for implementation, it was contended.
It was urged by the petitioner that the use of annealed glasses in buildings should be declared illegal. He had also sought a directive to the government to remove annealed or unsafe glasses from all public and private buildings in a time-bound manner.
State attorney KV Sohan had submitted that safety glasses are required only for buildings above three floors as per the existing building rules and an amendment is required to insist for safety glasses in all buildings.