MADURAI: A vacation bench of the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Thursday restrained a private shopping mall in the district from conducting programmes until further orders considering a fire accident that took place at the mall on December 24.
The bench comprising justices P Velmurugan and N Senthilkumar passed the interim order on a petition filed by R Major Kumar of Madurai. The judges, who adjourned the case for two weeks, further directed the collector and district fire officer to conduct an inspection regarding the stability of the mall building and the safety of the public and file a report before the court.
According to the petitioner, the said shopping mall in Gokhale Road has been operating since 2012. It has four floors, and two basement floors, and covers an area of 2.2 lakh sq feet. "On December 24 around 9.45 pm, a fire broke out on the third and fourth floors of the mall, due to a lack of precautionary measures. There is a petrol retail outlet situated adjacent to the mall and the situation could have been worse, if the fire had spread. The mall had previously faced action in 2012-2013 for lack of emergency routes," he alleged.
Kumar further said that the mall management has been proposing to conduct programmes inside the premises on December 28 and January 1, without ascertaining the current condition of the building and its stability. "If any untoward incidents occur during these programmes, then people's lives would be at risk," he added.