The Bombay High Court on Tuesday held the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) liable for “gross negligence” in connection with the 2015 fire at Hotel City Kinara in Kurla, which claimed the lives of eight persons. The court directed the civic body to pay Rs50 lakh compensation to each victim’s family within 12 weeks, failing which the amount will carry 9% interest.
A bench of Justices BP Colabawalla and Firdosh Pooniwalla observed that there was “an utter and gross failure by the BMC and its officials in the discharge of their statutory duties”, which led to the fatal fire.
The incident occurred on October 17, 2015, and was reportedly caused by a gas leak and short circuit. The fire broke out in the restaurant which was operating illegally on a 216 sq. ft. mezzanine floor only approved for storage. The restaurant was also using LPG cylinders without a licence and had unauthorised cooking arrangements in external areas.
“It is shocking that the BMC failed to initiate any action against the hotel despite being aware that it did not have requisite permission from the fire department,” the court noted.
The eight victims were seated on the mezzanine floor when the fire erupted, leading to their deaths. “These breaches increased the danger of fire in Kinara. The BMC was in gross negligence and has acted totally in breach of its statutory duties,” the bench said.
The high court was hearing a batch of petitions filed by the parents and spouse of the deceased, challenging the February 2017 order of the Lokayukta which had dismissed their complaint seeking a probe. The Lokayukta had observed that a compensation of Rs1 lakh had already been paid to each family.
However, petitioners sought enhancement of the compensation. Advocates Naushad Engineer and Jayesh Mestry, appearing for the families, highlighted that the victims belonged to low- or middle-income families.
Holding the BMC vicariously liable for the acts of commission and omission by its officials, the court said, “The negligence and breach of statutory duties by the BMC is a proximate cause of the fire.”
“Had the BMC taken prompt action, then the fire incident would definitely not have occurred,” the bench said. It added that the civic officers had faced no real consequences for their inaction.
The bench noted the fundamental right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution was violated due to BMC’s failure. “This violation… has been caused as a direct result of the negligence and breach of statutory duties on the part of BMC,” it said.
The court pointed out that the hotel did not possess a fire department No Objection Certificate (NOC), yet was issued an eating house licence. “This, in our view, was one of the most egregious breaches committed… by Respondent No. 2 (BMC),” the court observed.
BMC counsel Anil Sakhare sargued that the hotel owner should be held liable for the deaths and that it could not be made to pay compensation. It said departmental inquiries were held against four civic officials, and two were found guilty of negligence and penalised.
Rejecting these arguments, the court said that in matters of public safety, the law demands a higher degree of care. “When activities are hazardous and are inherently dangerous, the statute expects the highest degree of care,” the court observed. “If someone is injured because of such activities, the State and its officials are liable even if they could establish there was no negligence and it was not intentional.”
On RTI queries by Watchdog Foundation, it was learnt that neither did the hotel have NOC from the fire department, nor was it a registered customer of M/s. Laxmi Gas Agency, Kurla (East), Mumbai, which supplied gas cylinders to Kinara.
