Notice issued to govt on permissions and licences granted
PANAJI
The High Court of Bombay at Goa has taken suo motu cognisance of the fatal fire at the Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub and appointed advocate Rohit Bras De Sa as amicus curiae to assist the court.
During a brief hearing on Monday, the court made strong observations, saying the core issue appeared to be the existence and continued operation of illegal structures.
The Bench said it would now hear two matters -- a writ petition already filed by Pradeep Ghadi Amonkar and Sunil Divkar, the owners of the land on which the nightclub stood, and a suo motu public interest litigation initiated by the court.
The High Court noted that while there are statutory provisions empowering local bodies to act against illegal structures, such action was not taken in this case. In some instances, the court observed, commercial licences had been granted to establishments functioning out of illegal structures.
Stressing that accountability could not be evaded in such cases, the Bench said someone would have to be held responsible. A notice has been issued to the Goa government, directing it to file a reply detailing the permissions and licences granted to the nightclub as well as the incident report. The next hearing on both petitions has been scheduled for the second week of January.
The court also took a dim view of the role of the local panchayat, observing that it had failed to take suo motu cognisance of the club despite complaints. Commercial operations continued even after a demolition order had been served on the structure, the bench pointed out.
In their writ petition, Amonkar and Divkar had alleged an alarming pattern of statutory violations that remained inadequately addressed despite several complaints, inspections, show-cause notices and even a demolition order. The petition stated that the violations constituted brazen contraventions of several state and national laws, posing immediate threats to public safety, ecological integrity, and the rule of law in Goa.
