LUCKNOW: The Allahabad High Court has taken suo moto cognisance of a recent fire incident at a hotel that led to the death of four guests and expressed anguish on the failure of the authorities to check the construction of high-rise buildings without proper clearance.
Four guests were killed and close to a dozen were injured when a fire broke out at a hotel located in the posh Hazratganj area of the city on Monday morning.
The Lucknow bench of the court directed the vice-chairman of the Lucknow Development Authority (LDA) and the chief fire officer (CFO) to furnish before it the details of buildings constructed in the city without taking proper NOC from the fire department.
The order was passed by the division bench comprising Justice Rakesh Srivastava and Justice B R Singh.
The bench took on record several media news reports relating to the incident in the Hazratganj area.
The court also took note of Divisional Commissioner Roshan Jackob's statement in the media that the hotel had got NOC from the fire department while the building had no appropriate fire management system.
It expressed concerns as to how the hotel was allowed to run without a fire exit in the building.
In its order, the court asked the development authority vice-chairman to clarify as to how many buildings are in the city which should not have been granted fire NOC but they managed to obtain it.
The court also asked the vice-chairman the details of buildings running commercial activities in areas where ambulance and fire brigade vehicles can't reach.
The court summoned the vice-chairman on September 22 along with the details and asked the chief fire officer the details of those buildings which do not have proper exit and the necessary equipment to meet the situation in case of fire.