New Delhi: A decade after 8 people including seven students lost their lives in a fire that broke out at the Hotel City Kinara eatery in Mumbai, the Bombay High Court has directed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to pay Rs 50 lakh to each of the victim’s families within three months.
The court issued strong remarks against the Mumbai civic body, saying it had committed “gross negligence” and breach of its statutory duties despite having received complaints about the various illegalities at the eatery that made for serious fire hazards.
Through its decision, a bench of Justices BP Colabawalla and Firdosh P. Pooniwalla set aside a 2017 order passed by the Maharashtra Lokayukta, which had dismissed the claims made by the families of the eight young adults who died in the 2015 blaze.
The two-judge bench also noted in its 120-page order that the BMC “was aware of the various breaches and illegalities in Kinara which were a fire hazard, and despite complaints and their own inspection reports noting the same, did not take any action”.
Citing various Supreme Court rulings, like the 1997 DK Basu case, the court also said that if a breach of statutory duties by a public authority leads to a violation of fundamental rights under Article 21 of the Constitution, then compensation can and ought to be awarded.
The fire & the families’ fight for justice
On 16 October 2015, 8 people were at the Hotel City Kinara—a Chinese-cum-fast food restaurant frequented by students in Mumbai’s Kurla (West)—when a fire engulfed the restaurant.
“They were made to sit on a table in the loft area/mezzanine floor of Kinara where food was served to them. At about 1.20 pm, a fire broke out,” read the court order.
However, the fire brigade reached at around 1.36 pm, the order further said. Subsequently, the parents and other relatives of the deceased moved court.
According to a report by the fire department, the fire originated from the mezzanine floor where LPG cylinders were kept, in close vicinity to the electrical switch board, along with combustible materials like wooden tables and chairs.
In August 2016, a complaint was filed before the Maharashtra Lokayukta seeking directions for an investigation and compensation for the families of the deceased. However, it was dismissed a year later on grounds that compensation had already been credited to the Kurla Tahsildar’s account, to be paid to the families of the victims after the “accidental fire” at the eatery.
Challenging the 2017 Lokayukta order, the families made their way to the Bombay HC, which in 2019 said that it would hear the matter.
“In view of the tragic loss of human lives, we would like to consider the issues arising in the petition, in particular whether compensation should be paid to the family of the victims and whether the liability can be attached to the municipal corporation for negligence or disregard in discharge of its duties, if any, which may have resulted into or led to the unfortunate incident,” the HC had said then.
Violations ignored
A routine inspection carried out on 13 September 2012 by a medical officer of health (MOH) from the BMC had found that the eatery was infringing various conditions of its licence, nearly 17 years ago.
No letter from the chief fire officer granting permission to run the restaurant was produced at the time of inspection. It was also found that the restaurant was using the extra space outside the licenced premises for food preparation.
Subsequently, the inspection report had directed that these infringements be rectified, while cautioning that not doing so could entail action under Section 394 of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act, 1888, which specifies that certain trades, processes and operations cannot be carried on, without a licence.
Besides this, an RTI application filed by an activist, Martin Matthews, in September 2012 confirmed that no licence was granted to Hotel City Kinara for its verandah, copies of police and fire officers’ No Objection Certificates weren’t made available, and no information was given about how many gas cylinders or water tanks were available there. The same activist had also filed a complaint at the Bhave Nagar Police Station in Kurla, detailing violations at the restaurant.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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