Fire safety in highrises: High Court tells AMC chief to appear on Sept 14

AHMEDABAD: Ahmedabad municipal commissioner, Mukesh Kumar, will have to remain present before Gujarat high court on September 14, because the court was not satisfied with the affidavit sought over the issue of fire safety in highrise buildings and schools.
After going through the affidavit filed by the municipal commissioner, a bench of Justice M R Shah and Justice A S Supehia termed it a "cleverly drafted affidavit".
The affidavit mentioned that in over 2,400 highrise buildings in the city, 972 buildings do not have fire NOC. There are three buildings without any fire safety equipment installed. The list of such defaulters includes Acropolis Mall, Gulmohar Mall, LIC buildings, Rajasthan Hospital, May Flower Hospital etc.
The court was apparently dissatisfied with the reply, and inquired why the affidavit was silent on what action AMC has taken and what action it intends to take in future to implement the fire safety laws.
Interestingly, the list of defaulters included many which were slapped show-cause notices in the past by AMC after court orders, but they were spared by the court after giving undertakings to install fire safety equipment within stipulated time period.
The affidavit mentioned that nearly 15,500 schools in the city have fire safety measures in place. There was no further detail supplied on schools.
When the case came up for hearing in second session, the court asked AMC's counsel whether the commissioner will remain present during next court hearing or the court should pass an order. The counsel conceded that the civic body chief would remain present in court.
On August 31, the HC had sought "entire data" from Kumar on affidavit on highrise buildings and schools in the city and measures taken to ensure fire safety in them.
The high court is hearing a contempt of court petition filed by petitioner Prakash Nambiar for not implementing law after enactment of the Fire Safety Act in 2013. It was also submitted that AMC does not act against violators of fire safety norms despite various directions issued by court.