HC issues notice to Khoslas wife and former secy arpora panchayat and original owners in Birch fire case

Panaji: In the suo motu case concerning the Arpora nightclub fire, the Bombay high court on Tuesday directed notices to be issued to Vijaylakshmi Khosla, wife of Birch by Romeo Lane disputed property owner Surinder Khosla, to whom a lookout notice was issued.

Advocate general Devidas Pangam told the court that Surinder could not be served notice as he is residing abroad, but that his wife, Vijaylaksmi, is pursuing litigation on his behalf and should be added as a party in the present proceedings.


The HC also directed notices be issued to dismissed secretary of Arpora panchayat Raghuvir Bagkar, and to Pradeep Amonkar and Sunil Divker, the original property owners. The HC called on them to file replies in the petition.

Pangam told the court during the hearing that Bhagkar was instrumental in issuing Birch by Romeo Lane a trade licence and that he should be added as a party to fix responsibility.

He also told the court that it has now come to the govt’s knowledge that Amonkar and Divkar were the original persons who constructed the illegal structures and should also be made parties in the case.

The high court, at an earlier hearing, said it is considering attaching and auctioning assets of those responsible for the loss of lives in the fire incident. It asked the state to find out what compensation victims’ families already received.

During the hearing, Pangam said state govt and central govt paid ex-gratia compensation of Rs 5 lakh and Rs 2 lakh respectively to each of the families who lost their loved ones in the fire. The injured were paid Rs 1 lakh, half of which was paid by the state and half by the Centre, he said.

Advocate Rohit Bras de Sa, amicus curiae in the petition, told the court that there is a need for a survey of illegal structures from which commercial operations are being run. He said the HC has time and again passed orders that commercial operations cannot be permitted to be carried out in illegal structures which do not have an occupancy certificate.

He said this is the need of the hour to prevent such incidents from occurring again, and added that panchayats are granting NOCs allowing illegal structures to operate without occupancy certificates, and allowing them to carry out commercial operations. The excise department is also giving the parties licences, he said.

Although statutes are in place, there must be some precautionary measures to ensure that building regulations are complied with so that these persons cannot be allowed to carry out commercial operations, he said.

The HC said it is conscious of a larger issue involved and is open to scrutinising these matters, but said that it has to move step by step in a systematic manner.

During the last hearing, the HC directed local bodies to give details of construction licences, occupancy certificates, and trade licences it issued for commercial establishments.

The bench said it will collect details in a step by step manner to ensure rampant illegalities are brought to check.

De Sa said the state alone cannot be held responsible, but it is also the civic duty of people running the establishments who should obtain requisite permissions to provide a safe environment to people visiting their commercial establishments.