Guidelines for fire safety must be issued before May 2024 : Bombay High Court to State govt
The Maharashtra government was given an order by the Bombay High Court on Friday (8th December) to make sure it adheres strictly to the deadline it set for issuing fire safety regulations, which is now scheduled to be completed by May 2024.
As per further information, the bench said on Friday that the Court’s censure appeared to be the factor for the state’s “waking up” to this issue.
The State government was previously criticized by a division bench consisting of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Arif Doctor for its tardiness in implementing the aforementioned safety protocols.
The High Court bench declared that in February 2023, the committee’s recommendations on fire safety were released. Still, action wasn’t taken following the committee’s recommendation? Only because the court ordered the state did it started paying attention. Hasn’t anything been done about this yet?
An advocate had filed a public interest litigation (PIL) in 2019 asking the high court to enforce draft rules and regulations for fire safety in buildings susceptible to man-made disasters that were proposed in 2009.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) was ordered by the high court on Friday to submit an affidavit outlining the steps taken to put out unexpected fires in city buildings.
It also demanded that the number of fire stations and personnel working at them within the city’s municipal limits be made public.
The state government was criticized by the Court in a previous hearing for failing to implement fire safety regulations in spite of an increase in fire incidents in the state.
The bench further said that there seems to be an increase in fire incidents. There is a fire incident in this city every other day, and there have been reports of fatalities. This is a serious issue and no laxity can be accepted. It is currently December. What actions is the government taking?
The court then ordered the government to let the court know if there was a deadline for putting the safety regulations into effect.
In response, the state government told the high court on December 8 that it anticipates implementing the safety regulations by May 2024.
The next hearing date for this case is January 30, 2024.
Shreyas Vange
