Rajkot game zone fire: Gujarat High Court says municipal officers guilty of inaction must not be spared

The Gujarat High Court has ordered the State government to set up a fact-finding committee to investigate the May 24 fire incident at a gaming zone in Rajkot and examine the inaction of senior officers of the Rajkot Municipal Corporation in the matter. .A Bench of Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal and Justice Pranav Trivedi made it clear that an exhaustive inquiry must be conducted and that no official found guilty or irresponsible should be spared. "All aspects of dereliction of duties or inaction on the part of the officers of the Rajkot Municipal Corporation shall be brought into light," the Court ordered.The Court further directed an inquiry into the working of all municipal corporations of the State after noting that there were other similar tragic incidents in recent times such as the Morbi bridge collapse and the Harni Lake boat tragedy."These repeated incidents show that public places managed by the Corporations and the places of amusement where footfall of public is to a large extent, have been kept unsafe for human lives, because of dereliction in discharge of duties or inaction of the head of the institution," the order dated June 13 stated..Notably, the Court has also ordered the State to physically inspect schools (both State-run and private) catering to students between 3 years and 14 years, to examine if fire safety measures have been taken and if other building permissions are in order.Reports on these matters are to be filed before the Court within one month. "In order to get the fact finding inquiry into the incident of fire at TRP gaming zone, Rajkot as directed hereinbefore, both the matters are posted on 4.7.2024," the Court added. The Principal Secretary of the State Urban Development and Urban Housing Department has been ordered to file a personal affidavit to bring the inquiry report on record. .On May 26, the High Court had taken suo motu cognisance of the fire incident at Rajkot that claimed 27 lives.The Court had expressed shock at news reports indicating that the gaming zone might have taken advantage of loopholes in the Gujarat Comprehensive General Development Control Regulations (CGDCR) to pave the way for creating illegal structures for recreational activities.It was also noted that as per some Gujarati newspapers, the gaming zone had created temporary tin structures to overcome technicalities in taking permissions.Additionally, the Court noted that such gaming zones have come up not only in Rajkot but also in Ahmedabad and pose significant threats to public safety.Accordingly, it had concluded that prima facie, the disaster was man-made and had sought responses from the municipal corporations of Surat, Ahmedabad, Rajkot and Baroda regarding the provisions of law under which these corporations let these gaming zones and recreational facilities to be set up or continued..On June 13, after perusing an affidavit filed by the Rajkot Municipal Corporation, the Court noted that there was no building use permission obtained by the owners or the occupiers of the building in which the Rajkot gaming zone was located.It noted that the gaming zone started its operations merely with the permission granted by the police under Section 33(x) of the Gujarat Police Act, 1951, which provides for regulating the sale of tickets or passes for admission to a place of public amusement. Additionally, it noted that even after an application for regularising the structure was submitted under the Gujarat Regularization of Unauthorised Development Act (GRUDA), no action had been taken.The Court concluded that the municipal officials had failed to discharge their duties properly. "From the above, it is at least evident that the Municipal Commissioners of Rajkot Municipal Corporation who were holding charge during the erection of the building-in-question, i.e. the TRP gaming zone, and occupation and use thereof, have failed to discharge their duties and responsibilities to ensure that no unauthorised structure is occupied or permitted to be used by any person without a proper building use permission following structural and fire safety norms or erection of building," the Court said. Noting the complete lack of any fact-finding inquiry by the State to determine which officers were responsible for such lapses, the Court proceeded to order the Principal Secretary of the Urban Development and Urban Housing Department to constitute a high-level committee comprising three senior officers to conduct an inquiry. This committee has been tasked with conducting a fact-finding inquiry to identify the faults of the erring officers of the Rajkot Municipal Corporation, including the municipal commissioners who served from the date when the first pillar of the gaming zone was installed until the date the fire incident occurred.The matter will be heard further on July 4..Advocate DM Devnani assisted the Court as amicus curiae.Advocate General (AG) Kamal Trivedi. Additional AG Manisha Lavkumar and Addtional Government Pleader Vinay Bairaga appeared for the State government. .[Read Order]