SC quashes criminal complaint against J J Irani

The Supreme Court today quashed the criminal complaint against the then Tata Steel Joint MD J J Irani in a 1989 fire incident at the main gate of factory premises in Jamshedpur in which 60 persons were killed.
A bench of justices S J Mukhopadhaya and S A Bobde held that the complaint is being barred by limitation as it was filed three months after the offence came to the knowledge of the Inspector.
Section 106 of the Act says that no Court shall take cognizance of any offence punishable under this Act unless complaint thereof is made within three months of the date on which the alleged commission of the offence came to the knowledge of Inspector.

The bench set aside the order of the Jharkhand High Court which allowed the prosecution in the case. It upheld Chief Judicial Magistrate order which held that the case is barred by limitation.
It passed the order on a petition filed by Irani challenging the Judgment and Order of the High Court dated June 15, 2007 allowing the Criminal Revision filed by the State, and reversing the order dated June 29, 1990 of the Magistrate.
The incident took place on March 3, 1989, when the Tata Iron and Steel Company Limited (TISCO) celebrated the 150th birthday of J N Tata, as Foundation Day.

They constructed temporary pandals at the main gate of the factory premises and all of a sudden a fire broke out and two of the pandals, where guests were seated, were badly gutted.
As a result 18 to 20 persons died on the spot and a larger number were admitted with burn injuries at the Tata Hospital, some of whom later succumbed to their injuries.
The injured and the dead were mainly employees of TISCO, its officers and their family members.