Municipal and other authorities appear to have forgotten the "wounds" of Uphaar Cinema tragedy by allowing eateries to run in the upscale Khan Market where disaster is waiting to happen, Delhi High Court said today.
"The wounds of the Uphaar Cinema Tragedy on June 13, 1997, in which 59 persons lost their lives and more than 100 persons suffered injury, though not yet healed for the victims and their families, appear to have been forgotten by the administrative and municipal authorities by allowing functioning of establishments, which the owners of the establishments themselves are calling a fire trap and a fire hazard," the high court said.
Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw said neither Delhi Police, nor New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC), which gave licences for using the first floor flats of Khan Market as eateries where over 50 people dine, have been concerned whether these restaurants posed a fire hazard or whether preventive steps have been taken.
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The court said that even when the eatery owners themselves say that their eateries are fire hazards, "such restaurants are allowed to continue functioning, jeopardising the lives of their patrons".
"To say the least, the said first floor flats of Khan Market being used as restaurants are a disaster waiting to happen," it said.
Observing that it "cannot shut its eyes to such a situation" which shows "scant regard for human life", the court directed NDMC and Delhi Fire Service (DFS) to decide within two months whether the first floor flats that can cater to more than 50 persons qualify as 'assembly building' and, if yes, whether these eateries satisfied all requirements, including fire safety norms.
As per the law, any eatery having a seating capacity of less than 50 persons is not required to have any fire safety clearance.
NDMC and DFS also have to take a decision on whether eateries having a capacity of less than 50 persons can be permitted to function therefrom without posing a fire hazard, the court directed.
"The DFS to, within three months, re-visit its policy of classifying Assembly Buildings by the seating capacity thereof," it directed.
The court directed NDMC to ensure that these first floor
eateries, which have a capacity of more than 50 persons but are permitted to cater to only less than that, do not seat more than that number.
It asked NDMC to consider issuing directions to the eateries to prominently display their seating capacity along with phone number of officer of NDMC to receive complaints of over-seating.
The court, however, made it clear to their owners that despite the fact that they have declared in their petition that their establishments in first floor of the market were fire hazards, "they will continue to remain liable in law for the loss/damages to life or property of anyone from any incident of fire in their premises".
The court said even the NDMC "cannot absolve itself of the responsibility to satisfy itself that a restaurant does not pose a fire hazard to the safety of those patronizing the same and that in the event of fire, proper measures for evacuation of the patrons therein and to prevent the fire from spreading to the entire market, exist".
"In the matter of Uphaar Cinema, the liability for the loss caused by a fire incident has been held to be, besides of the owner/occupier of the premises, also of the licence giver if in conscious abuse of powers.
"The conduct of the NDMC and the other authorities of, inspite of the owners/occupiers of the said restaurants themselves saying that they are a fire trap and a fire hazard, not taking any action, will be nothing but a conscious abuse of the powers vested in them," the court said.
The observations and directions came as the court dismissed a plea by the Khan Market Welfare Association seeking directions to expedite the implementation of Khan Market Community Centre Re-development Plan, more particularly the plans pertaining to fire safety and installation of new and augmented sewage lines in the area.
The court said the plea was "filed on the premise that functioning of the eating houses/restaurants in the first floor and barsati floor...Was lawful and that for fire safety a redevelopment plan had been prepared and approved by the DFS and seeking implementation of the said plan".
"However, what emerges is that the approval by the DFS of the redevelopment plan, as far as first and barsati floors are concerned, was for residential occupancy," the court said, adding that DFS had not considered whether the plan would satisfy the norms if the flats were to be used as eateries.
"The use prescribed of the first floor flats of Khan Market, even if it has been changed from residential to commercial, does not entitle the owners/occupiers thereof to demand that for the sake of letting them carry on an activity therein, which according to them also is dangerous, NDMC should spend crores of rupees or that the owners/occupiers of shops on the ground floor should be made to suffer," it said, rejecting the eatery owners' request that fire escapes can be built outside the flats.
