DELHI HC PUTS THE ONUS ON MUNICIPAL CORPORATION IN MALVIYA NAGAR BLAZE

The Delhi high court has sought details of costs incurred by authorities in controlling the fire at Malviya Nagar that raged for almost 20 hours. A bench of acting chief justice Gita Mittal and justice C Hari Shankar took suo motu cognisance of media reports and indicated that such expenses must be borne by negligent officials of municipal corporation as well as the owner or occupier of the premises where an illegal commercial factory was being run.

“We will take action. You will pay for it,” the bench told senior advocate Sanjay Poddar who appeared on behalf of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation. The advocate had earlier claimed that the civic agency had taken several steps in this regard. The HC asked Delhi Police commissioner, Delhi Fire Service Chief and the Indian Air Force to give a breakdown of money spent by them in the fire-fighting exercise. It took 90 fire tenders and hundreds of personnel from fire and police department to douse the flames. The court remained unimpressed with SDMC’s claim it took action, and highlighted the dangerous consequences of the fire that affected 40-odd properties in the vicinity.

The bench also ordered DCP south to conduct a probe and file a report furnishing the details of the owners of the building that caught fire, who occupied it at that time, and the date when it was constructed. It also asked the police to find out when was its commercial use started and if it received any complaint from the SDMC in this regard.

The factory owner, Sanjay Saini has since been arrested. Police claimed that he didn't take the required permission from the MCD and there was no safety equipment installed in the warehouse.