The Supreme Court (SC) has clarified that an elevator for seven stories has not been 'procured' for a three-story building of Baglung District Court.
The annual report of the Auditor General for fiscal year 2073/74 mentions that an agreement has been signed by the Baglung District Court for fitting elevator in seven stories of the building. The report says Rs 6.50 million has been pledged for the purpose even as the estimated cost was Rs 3.20 million.
"The contractor has accepted to install elevator in seven stories of the three-story building at Rs 6.50 million even as the estimated cost was Rs 3.20 million," the report states. "The decision to sign an agreement to fit elevator in seven stories of the three-story building has to be reviewed and the designer should be held accountable."
SC Spokesperson Narayan Panthi claimed that elevator has not been procured yet as the building is still under construction.
Registrar at the Baglung District Court Ram Thapa Chhetri said elevator has yet to be procured even though the design of the building mentions elevator for seven stories. "The engineering consultant while preparing the design apparently mentioned an elevator for seven stories. During monitoring, we have already pointed that it should not be so. Construction is almost finished. Elevator has yet to be procured. I assure elevator for seven stories will not be procured," he elaborated.
The SC has accepted mistake in the design. The SC had handed over the responsibility to estimate cost and prepare designs for Patan Higfh Court and Baglung District Court to the same company.
"The building of Patan High Court has seven stories. The company that prepared the design for the Patan High Court prepared the one even for Baglung District Court. Maybe, it resorted to copy-paste. It is a minor mistake. The building will have elevator for just three stories despite the design mentioning otherwise," Panthi stated.
Promoter of Welink Associates Bishwo Prakash Amatya also conceded mistake in the design. "We were given the responsibility to estimate cost and prepare design. The estimation is correct but seven stories have been mentioned in the design instead of three. That was a typo. It is not right that an effort was made to install elevator for seven stories," he stated.
