While hearing the suo motu PIL on the TRP Game Zone fire in Rajkot which killed 33 people including nine children on Saturday, the Gujarat high court on Monday slammed the Rajkot Municipal Corporation (RMC) for letting the arcade operate illegally under its nose and said that the court has no faith in the state machinery for corrective measures.
The bench of Justice Biren Vaishnav and Justice Devan Desai asked RMC how it could be ignorant to the structure existing in its jurisdiction for three years without any permission by “turning a blind eye”.
The court castigated the civic body for its inaction until the fire, ignoring all orders issued by the HC on fire safety. This came after the RMC’s counsel told the court that go karting began on the plot in June 2021 and the structure came up 18 months ago, but the application for regularization of construction under GRUDA was made only on May 4.
After being reprimanded by the HC, the state govt transferred the Rajkot city police and municipal commissioners on Monday. An additional commissioner of police and a deputy commissioner of police have also been transferred. The axe also fell on five officers of the municipal corporation and roads and buildings departments and two cops as they were suspended for negligence in connection with the fire. The municipal commissioner suspended Gautam Joshi, RMC’s assistant town planner, Jaydeep Chaudhary, assistant engineer of the town planning branch, and Rohit Vigora, station officer with the fire and emergency service department.
Meanwhile, a Rajkot court remanded three persons arrested for the TRP Game Zone fire in police custody for 14 days with the judge directing the cops to ensure that ‘heavyweights’ in this case don’t manage to escape the clutches of the law. Yuvrajsinh Solanki, proprietor of the game zone, his partner Rahul Rathod and manager Nitin Lodha were presented in the court of third additional civil judge BP Thakkar.
Citing media reports, Justice Vaishnav told the RMC lawyer that the RMC chief had attended the inauguration of the gaming zone. “Can’t we take judicial notice of this fact? What did RMC do for eighteen months? Sat over it?”
Justice Desai asked, “For three years you did not inquire into the legality of the structures. Forget about its legality. What are your duties? Who was the officer in charge during this period? What action was taken against officers for not acting during this time?” Justice Vaishnav said the activity was “merrily going on without permission in front of the corporation”.
The advocate of the petitioner in a PIL related to fire safety rules, Amit Panchal, called the deaths in the fire “gruesome murders” by the operators of the gaming zone and the authorities.
When the president of the Gujarat High Court Advocates Association, Brijesh Trivedi, submitted that state govt should ensure it will take firm measures to hold people accountable, the judges said, “Who will take drastic steps? Honestly speaking, we don’t have faith in the state machinery now. After four years of orders passed by this court directing them and after their assurances, this is the sixth incident that has happened. They only want lives to be lost and then trigger the machinery.”
The judges repeatedly said that the municipal commissioners, from June 2021 till the fire took place, should be held accountable for the tragedy. The court directed all these commissioners to file separate affidavits. Justice Vaishnav inquired if officials of the municipal corporation go out to inspect at all, as such illegalities are found only when a tragedy happens.
When the court was told that the police department granted permission to the arcade for ticketing under Section 33(x) of the Gujarat Police Act, the court sought an affidavit from the Rajkot police commissioner as well.
