3-member committee to probe violations

The Bombay High Court (HC) on Friday directed to appoint a three member committee to probe into the violations by the two eateries, Mojo Bistro and 1Above.

A division bench of Justices R M Borde and RG Ketkar was listening to two of Public Interest Litigations (PILs) in Kamala Mills fire on December 29, last year, in which 14 persons died due to suffocation and 55 were injured.

“The three members will include a retired judge of HC, architect who is member of a panel of HC and a retired Urban Development secretary or a town planning expert,” said Justice Borde. He further stated, "This is to avoid repetition of such an unfortunate incident.”

The judge also said all the stake holders can participate in this probe. “Terms of reference will be wide enough and can be decided after a week,” said Borde.

The bench had expressed ‘anxious thought’ to the violations undertaken by the proprietors, and owners of premises as was revealed during the hearings. In the observations made by the court in the last few weeks, they expressed anguish over the numerous violations carried by the owners of Mojo Bistro and 1Above eateries and the proprietor of Kamala Mills.

The Committee will look into the genesis of the unfortunate incident at Kamla mills and people responsible for it. The committee will also look into the all the licenses for future permissions.

The court had noted these could not have been carried out without the consent of the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). Hence the committee will also probe the involvement of officers.

BMC in the last hearing had objected to a judicial probe. Senior counsel Anil Sakhare has informed the bench the BMC has already constituted a committee and disciplinary action has already been taken against the officers concerned. He also said that the investigation is under way, and the civic body will abide by whatever is decided by the court.

Twelve officers from BMC and the Fire Brigade have been booked for alleged negligence, and a departmental enquiry has also been initiated against them.

Poornima Kantharia, the government pleader told the court the state would abide by the order.

The PIL was filed by former Commissioner of Police Julio Ribeiro seeking a comprehensive fire safety audit, formation of a special investigation team and a judicial commission to fix accountability for the fire at 1Above and Mojo’s Bistro.

Next hearing is on February 23, for selecting the names of the people who will form part of the Committee and decide the terms of reference.