AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat excessive courtroom has put to relaxation the problem of the direct involvement of Rajjot’s two former municipal commissioners within the unlawful establishing of the TRP Sport Zone the place a hearth killed 27 folks in Might this yr.
“…we have now reached on the conclusion that each one proceedings pertaining to the approaching up of the TRP Sport Zone was carried out illegally on the stage of the City Planning Officer and at no stage of the proceedings, evidently the file had travelled to the extent of the Municipal Commissioners,” a bench of chief justice Sunita Agarwal and justice Pranav Trivedi stated in its order.
The excessive courtroom’s order, dated October 25, comes after an in depth examination of authentic paperwork and private affidavits of the 2 civil servants. The order was not too long ago uploaded to the excessive courtroom’s web site.
The courtroom had beforehand expressed apprehensions that there was an try and protect the highest bureaucrats and blame subordinate officers for permitting the TRP Sport Zone to come back up with out the required approvals.
Former municipal commissioner Amit Arora, who held the place from June 2021 to April 2023, stated that whereas he visited the situation for a colleague’s birthday celebration, he would have taken “strictest potential motion” had he identified in regards to the facility’s unlawful operation. Anand Babulal Patel, who was municipal fee between April 2023 and Might 2024, expressed “regret in letter and spirit” for the unlucky incident.
“With this, we discover it match and correct to place at relaxation the problem pertaining to the involvement of the Municipal Commissioners posted at related level of time on the Rajkot Municipal Company within the upcoming of the TRP Sport Zone illegally,” the courtroom stated in its order addressing a batch of petitions regarding fireplace security in municipal company areas throughout Gujarat. This features a suo motu case initiated by the courtroom after a devastating fireplace on Might 25 killed 27 folks, together with 4 youngsters, in Rajkot.
“Nevertheless, the query in regards to the grant of compensation to the victims out of the pocket of the erring officers remains to be alive and the identical could be thought-about as and when the event arises,” the courtroom added.
On the fireplace security measures taken in buildings throughout Gujarat, the courtroom expressed concern about high-rise buildings in main cities and particularly questioned the fire-fighting capabilities of municipal firms in Rajkot, Surat, Ahmedabad, and Vadodara, the place buildings as much as 150 meters (roughly 45 storeys) have been permitted.
The order additionally referred to progress made in class security measures throughout the state. In line with the affidavit filed by the training division, 338 faculties have efficiently develop into fire-compliant out of the 771 recognized faculties requiring compliance. The remaining 433 faculties are presently within the technique of reaching compliance. Moreover, the division has carried out mock drills in 50,699 faculties and supplied fireplace security coaching to just about 297,212 employees members as a part of its complete security initiative.
The courtroom will subsequent hear the case on December 20 to deal with remaining points, together with an in depth timeline for finishing fireplace division recruitment throughout eight municipal firms to deal with present staffing shortages.
In September, the excessive courtroom throughout a listening to had noticed that the town’s municipal commissioner couldn’t shirk accountability by claiming that he had “delegated his duties and powers” to a subordinate who failed to tell him in regards to the incident.
