The Bombay High Court on Tuesday, June 10, directed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to pay ₹50 lakh each as compensation to the kin of eight victims of a hotel fire incident in Kurla or Mumbai. All eight victims died in a fire in Hotel City Kinara in 2015.
As many as eight persons were killed when a fire broke out inside the Kurla hotel on October 16, 2015. Seven of them were students aged 18-20, and the eighth victim was a 31-year-old design engineer from Virar.
The high court was hearing petitions filed by parents of the victims seeking to quash the Lokayukta’s February 2017 order, which dismissed their complaint seeking a probe. The Lokayukta, while dismissing their pleas, noted that compensation of ₹1 lakh each was disbursed.
The families sought the enhancement of the compensation amount.
Citing its gross failure in the discharge of its duties, the high court ordered the civic body to pay ₹50 lakh each to the families of the victims within 12 weeks.
“Due to the failure of the BMC in taking action, the illegality in Kinara continued unabated and ultimately led to the fire and the loss of life,” a bench of Justices B P Colabawalla and Firdosh Pooniwalla said.
The court remarked it was “shocking” that the BMC took no action against the hotel, even though it was aware the establishment lacked the necessary fire department approvals. “Had the BMC taken prompt action, then the fire incident would not have definitely not occurred,” the court noted.
“The negligence and breach of statutory duties by the BMC is a proximate cause of the fire, and the civic body can be held vicariously liable for the acts of commission and omission of its officials.”
“This violation of the fundamental rights of the petitioners and their kin under Article 21 of the Constitution of India has been caused as a direct result of the negligence and breach of statutory duties on the part of BMC,” the court said.
The court also noted a list of violations on part of the hotel, saying it operated a service area on the mezzanine floor, which was supposed to be a storage area and also did not have a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the fire department.
Kinara was granted an eating housing licence without obtaining any fire NOC from the fire department, the court said. The hotel had also stored several gas cylinders which was prohibited.
“This, in our view, was one of the most egregious breaches committed not only by the owner and operator of Kinara but also by Respondent No.2 by issuing an eating house licence to Kinara without obtaining any fire NOC,” it observed.
