TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2003 (4) TMI 594
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....g it was too late for many of them to leave the balcony. The entire balcony area and the stairs leading to the balcony were so full of smoke that it had became impossible for many of the patrons to go out of the building and as a result thereof 59 people, which included infants and children, lost their lives because of asphyxiation and about 103 other persons sustained injuries. Immediately after the incident of fire, the Lieutenant Governor vide order dated 14th June, 1997 ordered an enquiry into the incident and appointed Mr.Naresh Kumar, Deputy Commissioner (South), Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi to conduct the enquiry with the following terms of reference :- i) To look into the cause(s) and circumstances leading to fire; ii) To examine whether the Uphaar Cinema had the necessary clearances/ NOCs/licenses from various agencies/statutory authorities. If not, to fix responsibility for lapses of the agencies; iii) To suggest measures to prevent such incidents in future; iv) Any other fact(s) relevant to the incident. 2. The Deputy Commissioner after recording the statement of witnesses and examining the documents submitted h....
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....sly as possible in a free and fair manner. B. direct the respondent No.1 to ensure that no cinema hall in the country is allowed to run without license granted after strictly observing all the mandatory conditions prescribed under the laws and to further direct them to stop the operation of all cinema halls and to permit the operation only after verification of the existence of a valid license/permit by the licensing authority, under the Cinematograph Act. C. award damages against the respondents, jointly and severally, to the petitioners including all victims who lost their lives, the names and particulars of which, are given in Annexure B, through petitioner No.1, a sum of Rs. 11.8 crores (Rupees Eleven Crores and Eighty Lakhs Only) with the direction to equally distribute the same to the first degree heirs of all the victims evenly or in such manner as may be considered just and proper, by this Hon'ble Court. D. award damages against the respondents, jointly and severally, to the tune of Rs. 10.3 crores (Rupees Ten Crores and Thirty Lakhs Only) to the injured whose names and addresses are mentioned in Annexure C, to be distributed evenly or in such man....
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.... the matter. Dr.Dhawan appearing on behalf of the private respondents has relied upon the observations of the Supreme Court in its judgment dated 17th August, 2001 in SLP(C).No.10288/2000 filed against the order of this Court dated 21st February, 2000 to contend that even after the judgment of this Court, the Supreme Court had granted them liberty to raise this question again. We are afraid, no such observation is made by the Supreme Court in its order dated 17th August, 2001 passed in the aforesaid matter. Dealing with the contention of the private respondents that they had an apprehension that the High Court might adopt some procedure of appointing a commission to gather certain facts which, by itself, may not be sufficient to dispose of the matter and that the commission appointed would only to report whether the rules and regulations are complied with therein or not and not, the Supreme Court observed that whatever be the apprehension of the counsel, they could very well be pointed out to the High Court and address their arguments as to the manner in which a dispute of this nature could be resorted satisfactorily and as and when such arguments are raised, the High Court would c....
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....]1SCR819 are also relevant for decision of this case and are being reproduced as under :- "Before we part with this topic, we may point out that this Court has throughout the last few years expanded the horizon of Article 12 primarily to inject respect for human rights and social conscience in our corporate structure. The purpose of expansion has not been to destroy the raison d'etre of creating corporations but to advance the human rights jurisprudence. Prima facie we are not inclined to accept the apprehensions of learned counsel for Shriram as well founded when he says that our including within the ambit of Article 12 and thus subjecting to the discipline of Article 21, those private corporations whose activities have the potential of affecting the life and health of the people, would deal a death blow to the policy of encouraging and permitting private entrepreneurial activity. Whenever a new advance is made in the field of human rights, apprehension is always expressed by the status quoits that it will create enormous difficulties in the way of smooth functioning of the system and affect its stability. Similar apprehension was voiced when this Court in R.D.Shetty case....
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....iple of liability that if a person who brings on to his land and collects and keeps there anything likely to do harm and such thing escapes and does damage to another, he is liable to compensate for the damage caused. Of course, this rule applies only to non-natural user of the land and it does not apply to things naturally on the land or where the escape is due to an act of God and act of a stranger or the default of the person injured or where the thing which escapes is present by the consent of the person injured or in certain cases where there is statutory authority. Vide Halsbury's Laws of England, vol. 45. para 1305. Considerable case law has developed in England as to what is natural and what is non-natural use of land and what are precisely the circumstances in which this rule may be displaced. But it is not necessary for us to consider those decisions laying down the parameters of this rule because in a modern industrial society with highly developed scientific knowledge and technology where hazardous or inherently dangerous industries are necessary to carry as part of the developmental programme, this rule, evolved in the 19th century at a time when all these developments....
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....it has undertaken. The enterprise must be held to be under an obligation to provide that the hazardous or inherently dangerous activity in which it is engaged must be conducted with the highest standards of safety and if any harm results on account of such activity, the enterprise must be absolutely liable to compensate for such harm and it should be no answer to the enterprise to say without any negligence on its part. Since the persons harmed on account of the hazardous or inherently dangerous activity carried on by the enterprise would not be in a position to isolate the process of operation from the hazardous preparation of substance or any other related element that caused the harm the enterprise must be held strictly liable for causing such harm as a part of the social cost of carrying on the hazardous or inherently dangerous activity. If the enterprise is permitted to carry on an hazardous or inherently dangerous activity for its profit, the law must presume that such permission is conditional on the enterprise absorbing the cost of any accident arising on account of such hazardous or inherently dangerous activity as an appropriate item of its overheads. Such hazardous or in....
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....her as developed in England recognise certain limitations and exceptions, we in India must hold back and not venture to evolve a new principle of liability since English Courts have not done so. We have to develop our own law and if we find that it is necessary to construct a new principle of liability to deal with an unusual situation which has arisen and which is likely to arise in future on account of hazardous or inherently dangerous industries which are concomitant to an industrial economy, there is no reason why we should hesitate to evolve such principle of liability merely because it has not been so done in England. We are of the view that an enterprise which is engaged in a hazardous or inherently dangerous industry which poses a potential threat to the health and safety of the persons working in the factory and residing in the surrounding areas owes an absolute and non delegable duty to the community to ensure that no harm results to anyone on account of hazardous or inherently dangerous nature of the activity which it had undertaken. The enterprise must be held to be under an obligation to provide that the hazardous or inherently dangerous activity in which it is engaged....
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....rce of the Commissioner of Police system, the Rules were amended and the Delhi Cinematograph Rules 1981 have now come into force. In terms of Rule 3, the license shall be granted in respect of a building which is permanently equipped with Cinematograph rules and in respect of which the requirements set forth in 1st schedule of these Rules are fulfillled. The first schedule to the Rules lays down the specifications with which compliance must be made before any annual license is granted in respect of any building. Besides other things, the schedule lays down specifications regarding number of persons accommodated in the cinema hall and the manner in which the seats can be provided therein. The Rules insofar as they are relevant for accommodation, sitting, the width of gangways, stairways, exists, etc. read as under:- 6. ACCOMMODATION (1) The total number of spectators accommodated in the building shall not exceed twenty per hundred square feet of the area available for sitting and standing or twenty per 133-1/2 square feet of over all area of the floor space in the auditorium. 2. A notice showing the number of spectators permitted by the conditions of the l....
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....lsewhere shall be fitted with clips or fastenings which will part in the centre on slight pressure, and shall not trail on the floor. (7) Guard rails not less than three feet six inches above floor level shall be provided on the parapet at the foot of gangways in galleries where the incline of gangway exceeds fifteen degrees. (9) STAIRWAYS - (1) There shall be at least two stairways each not less than four feet wide to provide access to any gallery or upper floor in the building which is intended for use by the public. (2) The treads and risers on each flight of stairs shall be of uniform width and height. The treads shall not be less than eleven inches wide and the risers shall not be more than seven inches high. (3) There shall be no winders. (4) A continuous hand rail shall be fitted to each side of stairways. (5) No stairways shall discharge into a passage or corridor against or across the direction of exit. 10. EXITS : - (1) Every public portion of the building shall be provided with an adequate number of clearly indicated exists placed in such positions and so maintained as to afford the audience ample means of safe and....
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.... 16 of the 1st schedule provides the fire precautions which are required to be taken by the cinema hall and the fire extinguishing appliances which must be readily available at the time of an emergency. Clause 16 of the 1st schedule reads as under:- FIRE PRECAUTIONS - (1) Fire extinguishing appliances suitable to the character of the building and of a pattern, class and capacity approved by the licensing authority shall be provided as prescribed by him; these appliances shall be disposed to his satisfaction so as to be readily available for use in case of fire in any part of the building. (2) There shall always be sufficient means of dealing with the fire readily available within the enclosure and these shall include a damp blanket, a portals Chemical fire extinguisher and two buckets of dry sand. (3) All fire extinguishing appliances shall at all times be maintained in proper working order and available for instant use, and all Chemical fire extinguishers shall be capable of withstanding a pressure of not less than 250 lbs. square inch. (4) During an exhibition all fire extinguishing appliances shall be in charge of some person or persons specia....
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....t aggrieved by the said cut in the cinema rates and made a representation to the Delhi Administration pointing out that the expenses had gone up for a number of years and the rates which had been fixed were already proving unbearable. The representation of the holder of the Association of Motion Pictures exhibitors was considered by the Lt. Governor and the Administration agreed to relax the Rules and allowed the licensees to add to the existing number of seats in their cinema halls certain seats to make the good the loss caused to the licensees by the reduction in the rates by 10% made in 1975. Uphaar Cinema was also permitted to add 43 seats in balcony and 57 seats in the main hall. A notification to that effect was issued by the licensing authority on 30th September, 1976. As a result of the relaxation of the Rules, 43 seats were added in the balcony and 57 seats were added in the main hall. On receipt of a report from the Chief Fire Officer that the addition of seats was a fire hazard, the Lt. Governor on 27th July, 1979 issued a notification cancelling with immediate effect the earlier notifications by which relaxation had been granted to the different licensees who were there....
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....d also show that he was prepared to take that risk in consonance with the compliance with the Rules. The Administration, the Public Health authorities and the Chief Fire Officer ultimately agreed to make some of these relaxations. 15. The Court, Therefore, held that relaxation granted under the proviso to Rule 3(3) was capable of being modified or revoked and the cancellation of the relaxation was, Therefore, justified and legal. The matter, however, did not end there. The Court further observed that by simply withdrawing the relaxation would not automatically mean that all the additional seats which were installed in the cinema theaters were contrary to rules and must, Therefore, be dismantled without any consideration as to how many of these seats were in consonance with the rules and how many were contrary to the rules. The Court, Therefore, directed the administration to apply their mind to the additional seats with a view to determine which of them had contravened which rule and to what extent keeping in mind that the compliance with the rules was to be substantial and not rigid. 16. After the notification dated 30th September, 1976 was issued permitting Uphaar Cinema to....
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....dditional seats in the balcony were found to be in substantial compliance of the rules and might, Therefore, be retained. Even in this letter, no reference was made to the 8 seater box by which the "exit" at the rear right side of the balcony was closed. After the passing of this order, the licensee of Uphaar Cinema appeared to have sought permission to add 15 more seats in the balcony so as to make the total number of seats in the balcony as 302. This proposal was sent by the DCP (Licensing) to the Executive Engineer, PWD who by his letter dated 10th September, 1980 wrote to DCP (Licensing) that the total number of seats in the balcony were 287 and by adding these 15 seats, the total number of seats in the balcony would be 302; the number of exists at site were at present three and as per the 1st Schedule of Delhi Cinematograph Rules, 1953, the number of exits should be one per 100 seats and on account of which two seats would be in excess but at the time of removal of additional seats in October, 1979 during a meeting held in the room of the DCP where the DCP and the Chief Fire Officer were also present, it was decided that keeping in view the High Court's order for substantial c....
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....to the deaths in the balcony because of asphyxiation. It is the case of Mr.Tulsi, learned counsel for the petitioners, that had this exit not been closed and the gangway had existed on the right side of the cinema hall, there would have been smooth egress by the patrons from the balcony through that exit as well which would have led them to the stairway and then out of the building. It is submitted by him that because of the exit being closed and the other stairway not being available, there was almost a chaos in the cinema hall at the time of fire which resulted in delay in the egress of patrons and they died, on coming out of the balcony, because of asphyxiation. 18. Besides the deviation in the gangways, arrangement of seats and exit, etc., inside the balcony the other major deviation, according to Mr.Tulsi, was raising of the 3 feet high parapet wall at one end of the ground floor, almost behind the transformer room, to the ceiling level. Submission of Mr.Tulsi is that in the original plan, the Municipal Corporation had approved only a 3 feet high parapet wall but the cinema owners not only raised the same to the ceiling level but also constructed a dispensary by its side ab....
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....e right side of the balcony. He submits that the provision of Section 12(i)(a) of the Cinematograph Act stipulates the substantial compliance with rules and principle of substantial compliance has also been upheld by the Delhi High Court in its judgment dated 29th November, 1979. He submits that the DCP (Licensing) while examining the number of exit gates at the time of sanctioning additional 15 seats had held that three gates for 302 seats amounted to substantial compliance of the rule of providing one "exit" gate per 100 patrons. 20. The other major structural deviation in the building alleged by the petitioners is the construction of the rear wall at the back of the transformer room. The contention of learned counsel for the petitioner is that the wall as originally sanctioned by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi was only a 3 feet high parapet wall but the respondents have now raised it to the ceiling level and, according to the petitioner, construction of this wall has contributed, to a large extent, the smoke not going out of the building and going to the balcony through the stairway. Mr.Tulsi, learned counsel for the petitioner, in support of his argument that this wall w....
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....n planks at the time of fire taking place in the building. It is submitted that existence of R.S.Joist would not in any manner contribute to the flow of smoke to the higher floors. It is submitted that the R.S.Joists could not be removed as they were embedded permanently in the columns of the building and their removal would have caused danger to the stability of the structure itself. 22. It would not be out of place to mention here that the license of the cinema was sought to be suspended by the Licensing authority in June, 1983 for alleged violations of different provisions and rules under the Cinematograph Act and the rules framed there under and the cinema was required to obtain clearance certificates from various authorities within four days failing which it was threatened that the license would be revoked. On receipt of this notice from the licensing authority, the cinema owners filed a writ petition in the High Court of Delhi being C.W.P.No.1347/83. On 28th June, 1983 when the matter came up before the Court for hearing, the Court stayed the operation of the order suspending the license of the respondent/owners. This stay, we were informed, continued till the date of unfo....
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....als. This structure is also found to be highly objectionable from the fire safety point of view. 8. On the top floor, an office has been created forming part of the staircase plus a left over it and attending to the portion above the toilet shown in the sanctioned plan. 9. One room at second floor mentioned as store in the completion certificate is being used as office of M/s.Anil Chopra & Company. 10. Many offices were noticed on the top floor for which no permission seems to have been taken as required under condition 17 of the license. 11. The space marked for a restaurant has been let out to a bank. 23. These deviations, according to the DCP (Licensing) amounted to contravention of conditions 1, 2 and 17 of the license conditions, rule 23 and 47 of the Delhi Cinematograph Rules and paragraphs 2 and 18 of the First Schedule appended thereto. He, Therefore, issued a notice to the cinema to show cause as to why the license be not revoked under Rule 8 of the Rules. After considering the reply received from the cinema, order dated 27th June, 1983 was passed suspending the license of the cinema for four days. As already mentioned above, this ord....
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....body to get it regularised/compounded. After a careful consideration of the facts and circumstances of the case, I direct as below :- The respondents shall remove the objections mentioned at Serial Nos.3, 6, 9 and 10 by 31st August, 1984. The appellant shall make an application to the concerned local body i.e. Municipal Corporation of Delhi for regularization/compounding of the objections mentioned at Serial Nos.2, 4, 8 and 11 within a period of 7 days from the date of this order and the said local body shall dispose of this application within a period of one month. Such of the objections as the local body is not willing to regularise, shall be removed by the appellant by 31st August, 1984. The appellant shall report compliance of the directions at No.1 and 2 above to the Licensing authority on or before 1st September, 1984. The appellant shall also give an undertaking to the Licensing authority, in the form and manner prescribed by it, that he shall not again indulge in any of the violations that he has removed on his own or in terms of this order. In case, any one of the directions is not complied with, the order dated 27.6.19....
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....nd Dr.Sanjeev Jain in Mechanical Engineering Department, IIT, New Delhi as Court commissioners to visit the site and to submit report as to whether or not all rules and regulations and statutory provisions were complied with and if not to what extent. The Court commissioners have submitted their report indicating the structural deviations alleged to have been committed by the owners of the cinema hall. The report of the commissioners giving floor-wise deviations/violations by the owners of the cinema may be reproduced as under :- 13. FLOORWISE DEVIATION/VIOLATIONS A. BASEMENT FLOOR : (i) Four partition walls were constructed in the basement hall meant for parking (Deviation & Violation-BBL 14.12.2; There was no proof of the approval granted by the Authority). (ii) Inflammable materials such as seats, frames, planks were stored in the basement. (Violation-BBL 14.12.1.1) (iii) A number of rooms such as air washer room next to the blower room; rooms/offices next to A/c ducts & the lift well; stores below the ramp were made in the basement. (Deviation & Violation-BBL 14.12.1.1). Offices were not air-conditioned and not included in FAR. ....
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.... C. FIRST FLOOR: (i) Two additional refreshment counters were constructed in the rear stall foyer (Deviation). (ii) One additional seat was added in the rearmost row near the left side exit door (Deviation) (iii) An alteration was made in the ladies toilet by removing one of the areas earmarked for Air- conditioning duct. (Deviation). (iv) Two washrooms, originally sanctioned, were not existing (Deviation). D. MEZANINE FLOOR: (i) One additional refreshment counter was constructed (Deviation). (ii) An air-conditioning unit was installed in the area sanctioned for Air-conditioning duct/wash room. (Deviation). E. SECOND FLOOR/BALCONY: (i) The addition of (37+15) seats were made in the balcony over and above the 250 originally sanctioned. Although permission was granted by D.C.P. (Licensing), but sufficient care was not taken to facilitate fire egress of the patrons sitting on the right side of auditorium. The two gangways and one exit on the right side were closed and only one central gangway was provided in lieu of these. Due to this eccentric placement of the exits, the central exit was cat....
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....t these violations/deviations have been contributed to the spread of fire would be discussed by us at a later stage. 30. According to Mr.Tulsi, the car parking area was over parked with more than double the number of cars for which the car parking was meant. It is his submission that the manner in which the cars were parked enhanced the danger of fire from the transformer. He has relied upon the statement of the sweeper Sunil and the parking assistant Vijay Kumar who have both stated in the statement recorded under Section 161 of the Code of Criminal Procedure to the police that the cars were parked in front of the transformer. Mr.R.K.Sethi, car parking contractor in his statement recorded under Section 161 of the Cr.P.C has stated that he was not given any instructions by the owners of the cinema not to let cars be parked in front of the transformer room. It is not in dispute that right in front of the transformer room or in its vicinity, the cars were parked and it is also not in dispute that the contessa car parked next to the transformer room was the first to catch fire. To what extent, the improper parking of cars and over crowding of the parking area has contributed to the....
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....measuring 10'6" X 30' and 10'6" X 15' for Delhi Vidyut Board transformer and HT/LT panels and also undertook to execute the civil maintenance work. Since the party had agreed to give a space for setting up a sub-station, Delhi Vidyut Board not only set up a sub-station on the ground floor of the car parking area but a transformer exclusively for the use of the theatre was also installed along with the same. Initially a transformer of 500 KVA was installed in the sub-station which was subsequently augmented to 750 KVA and then in July, 1989 it was augmented to 1000 KVA. 33. For installation of the transformers, certain rules have been framed both under the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act as well as under the Indian Electricity Act. Under rules 32 and 33 of the Indian Electricity Rules proper earthing is to be provided on the consumers premises. Under Rule 36 before any conductor or apparatus is handled adequate precautions shall be taken, by earthing or other suitable means, to discharge electrically such conductor or apparatus, and any adjacent conductor or apparatus if there is danger there from. Every person who is working on an electric supply line or apparatus or both shall ....
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....metal casting or metallic covering which is electrically and mechanically continuous and adequately protected against mechanical damage unless the said conductors are accessible only to an unauthorised person or are installed and protected to the satisfaction of the Inspector so as to prevent danger. Under Rule 61, the provision of providing neutral conductor of a phase, 4 wire system and the middle conductor of a 2 phase, 3 wire system shall be earthed by not less than two separate and distinct connections with a minimum of two different earth electrodes of such large number as may be necessary to bring the earth resistance to a satisfactory value both at the generating station and at the sub-station. Under Rule 61 A, earth leakage protective device is all circuit breakers are to be provided in case of earth fault or leakage of current. Under Rule 63, before installation of a transformer approval of the Inspector under the Rules is required to be taken. Under Rule 64 and Rule 64 A, at the time of installation of the transformer relays must be provided and cable trenches inside the sub-station and the switch station containing cables are to be filled with sand, pebbles or similar n....
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....ed out after the fire, protective relays were not found in the transformer and there was no kerb at the entrance of the Delhi Vidyut Board transformer room to prevent the flow of oil outside. Fire fighting equipments were also not provided in the transformer room except that sand was available for that purpose. No maintenance record of the transformer was available except that it was installed on 9th July, 1989 and maintenance was carried out on 27th January, 1997. The Delhi Vidyut Board in its counter affidavit has not mentioned anything about the provision of relays, circuit breakers, earthing nor any maintenance record of the transformer has been filed by the Delhi Vidyut Board. 36. It will be useful to give here a short background as to how the electricity was being received at the Delhi Vidyut Board (sub-station) installed on the ground floor of Uphaar Cinema and how it was transmitted from the sub-station to the consumers. The power to the sub-station is received from the 33/11 KV grid sub-station installed at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences via Green Park main and K-84 sub-stations. Power is received on the HT panels at 11000 Volts from where it is divided int....
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....arlier, it was required to obtain written approval of the Electrical Inspector apparatus or electric supply lines, comprising the said alterations or additions unless and until such alterations or additions are approved in writing by the Inspector. Under the Rules, the transformer must have relays, cable box, earthing, etc. and it was also required to provide a kerb so that the leaking oil does not go out of the transformer room. Despite mandatory provisions of Rules 65 to 69 and despite the requirement of approval of the Inspector in writing before installation of the transformer, nothing has been placed on record to show that any such approval was ever taken by the Delhi Vidyut Board at the time of installation of 1000 KVA transformer in July, 1989. Though it is the contention of learned counsel for the Delhi Vidyut Board that relays were provided but they were stolen, however, despite our repeated queries, no record had been produced to show that relays were ever issued by the store for installing the same in the transformer and the same were stolen nor any report was ever lodged about the theft of these relays. 37. In terms of clause 6.1 of IS:10028 the maintenance schedule ....
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....the sub-station in October, 1994, he did not carry out inspection of the sub-station located on the ground floor of Uphaar Cinema in 1995 as the date i.e. 27th February, 1995 which was fixed for inspection was declared a Gazetted holiday. He states that in 1996 he carried out inspection on 14th May, 1996 and in 1997 the inspection was carried out on 22nd January, 1997. He states that during the inspection in 1997 everything was found correct except that DC relays (protection relays) were missing. He further states that the protection system was not available at DVB transformer at Uphaar Cinema as protection relays were stolen from there and he pointed out the non-availability of the protection system in the check list dated 22nd January, 1997. He further stated that despite the protection relays having not been provided, protection system was available at All India Institute of Medical Sciences grid sub-station for the safety of DVB transformer at Uphaar Cinema in case of over current and abnormality in the electric supply. 39. The record produced during the hearing and the statement of the witnesses show that the Delhi Vidyut Board was clearly negligent in the maintenance and i....
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....h L.T. switches without any fuses in the circuit, clearly shows that the sub-station had not been maintained in a healthy condition. [Violation of a 65 (5) of IE Rules] (iii) INSTALLATION - (a) The lay out of the DVB transformer was not in accordance with the rules/specifications laid down in bids and IE Rules, 1956. The space around the transformer is approx. 0.95 meter whereas it should be 1.25 mtrs. for proper circulation of Air. [Violation of IS 1886-1967 (fig-2)] (b) Electrical cables were found laid in a haphazard way and it was difficult to distinguish which cable is connected to which transformer/HT breaker. [ Violation of Rule 41 of IE Rules, 1956] (c) Cable trenches were not to proper size and due to over crowding of HT/LT cables, most of these cables were lying on the sub-station floor. Cable trenches had not been found covered with slabs of non-inflammable material. [Violation of Rule 62 (2) (g) of IE Rules, 1956] (d) Arrangement had not been made to stop the flow of transformer oil from the sub-station to the other parts of the building, in the event of transformer tank being ruptured/ damaged. Fig....
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....stries Vs. Union of India, (1979)IILLJ416SC . He also relied upon the judgment of the US Supreme Court in Honda Motor Company Vs.Oberg, 1994 US SC. 193. In this case, the Honda Motor Company was held liable for injuries received by Oberg while driving three-wheeled all terrain vehicle manufactured and sold by them and it was held that if in committing the wrong complained of, the defendant had acted wrongfully, willfully and maliciously with a design to oppress and injure the plaintiff, the jury in fixing the damages, may disregard the rule of compensation and beyond that may as a punishment to the defendant and as a protection to the society against violation of personal rights and social order, award such additional damages that they may deem proper. The US Supreme Court further laid down the following substantial criteria for awarding punitive damages :- 1. Likelihood at the time that serious harm would arise from the defendants misconduct; 2. The degree of the defendant's awareness of that likelihood; 3. The profitability of the defendant's misconduct; 4. The duration of misconduct and any concealment of it; 5. The attitude and condu....
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....he time of grant of damages is a question which we may have to examine at a later stage, however, insofar as the calculation of the profitability is concerned, in our view, the same appears to have been slightly exaggerated. The cost of one balcony ticket is taken by Mr.Tulsi as Rs. 50/- , which was the cost in 1979, but it could not be the rate throughout between 1979 and 1997. The cost of the balcony ticket in or about 1979 may be Rs. 15 or Rs. 20 and the same position might have continued till the middle of 80's. Moreover, one could not imagine that all the five shows of the day during the entire 365 days a year would have been house full. Assuming the average rate of ticket in the balcony between 1979 and 1996 to be Rs. 30/- and of the 150 shows in a month assuming 50% shows to be houseful, the owners will be getting approximately Rs. 2250/- per seat per month or Rs. 27,000/- per seat per year and in 18 years the owners may have earned Rs. 4,86,000/-. We may not be in error in estimating that the owners may have earned Rs. 2,50,00,000/- (Rupees Two Crores Fifty Lacs only) from all these additional seats. This may not be the exact income earned by the owners of the cinema hall b....
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.... which the death trap was laid for the patrons by the licensee in collusion with the licensing authority in the blatant disregard of the rules for safety. The eruption of fire in the building either by electrical short circuiting or otherwise is not an unforeseeable eventuality and the fact that it is foreseeable is clear from the safety requirements engrafted in the rules of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi as well as the Delhi Cinematograph Rules as also the rules framed under the Indian Electricity Act. It is submitted that since the fire was a foreseeable contingency, the requirements with regard to adequate egress ought to have been insisted upon so that in case of fire, patrons could escape to safety through gangways and exits on either side of the hall and the balcony leading to the staircase so as to discharge them in the open. It is submitted that the cinema was owned by the Ansal Group of Industries and their annual turn over was to the tune of Rs. 200 crores and they had projects in hand worth Rs. 1,500 crores. It is submitted that any amount of punitive damages less than Rs. 100 crores was not likely to have the desired deterrent effect on the owners of the Uphaar Cin....
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....addition to the claim available in private law for damages for tortious acts of the public servants. Public law proceedings serve a different purpose than the private law proceedings. Award of compensation for established infringement of the indefeasible rights guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution is a remedy available in public law since the purpose of public law is not only to civilize public power but also to assure the citizens that they live under a legal system wherein their rights and interests shall be protected and preserved. Grant of compensation in proceedings under Article 32 or Article 226 of the Constitution of India for the established violation of the fundamental rights guaranteed under Article 21, is an exercise of the courts under the public law jurisdiction for penalising the wrongdoer and fixing the liability for the public wrong on the State which failed in the discharge of its public duty to protect the fundamental rights of the citizen. In the assessment of compensation, the emphasis has to be on the compensatory and not on punitive element. The objective is to apply balm to the wounds and not to punish the transgressor or the offender, as awarding....
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.... private law for payment of compensation in an action on tort. It may be mentioned straightway that award of compensation in a proceeding under Article 32 by the Supreme Court or by the High Court under Article 226 of the Constitution is a remedy available in public law, based on strict liability for contravention of fundamental rights to which the principle of sovereign immunity does not apply, even though it may be available as a defense in private law in an action based on tort. This is a distinction between the two remedies to be borne in mind which also indicates the basis on which compensation is awarded in such proceedings. We shall now refer to the earlier decisions of this court as well as some other decisions before further discussion of this principle. The compensation is in the nature of `exemplary damages' awarded against the wrongdoer for the breach to its public law duty and is independent of the rights available to the aggrieved party to claim compensation under the private law in an action based on tort, through a suit instituted in a court of competent jurisdiction or/and prosecute the offender under the penal law." 48. In Indian Council for Enviro Legal Action....
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....ts. He submits that the public law cases cannot be tried as civil suits and thus the only damages available in law law were in the nature of exemplary damages and even if damages were quantified, those must be done on the basis of settled principles and mere averment of compensation of Rs. 20 lacs per person or Rs. 1 lac per person was without any basis and was not enough. It is argued that the settled principles were based on the law laid down in tort and motor vehicle cases where multiplier methods were applied. For this he relies upon the judgment of the Supreme Court in Lata Wadhwa and Ors. Vs. State of Bihar (2001)IILLJ1559SC M.S. Grewal and Another Vs. Deep Chand Sood and Others AIR2001SC3660 G.M. Kerala State Road Transport Corporation Trivandrum Vs. Susamma Thomas (Mrs) and Ors. AIR1994SC1631 Bhagawan Das Vs. Mohd. Arif 1987 ACJ 1052; Chairman Andhra Pradesh State Road Corporation Vs. Shafiya Khatoon and Others 1985 ACJ 212; and Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation Vs.G.Ramanaiah - to contend that in an action for tort as to whether the plaintiff was found to be entitled for damages, the matter should not be stretched too far to punish the defendant by awarding e....
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.... taken place. It is submitted that the oil in that circumstances had spread in all directions and the tragedy could have been avoided. It is submitted that there was a clear negligence on the part of the management of Uphaar cinema in not giving directions to the parking contractor or the parking attendant not to permit any car to be parked in front of the transformer room and not to permit parking of more than 15 cars in the parking area. It is submitted that admittedly on the fateful day more than 28 cars were parked inside the parking area on the ground floor whereas there was a provision only for 15 cars in such parking area. It is submitted that the negligence of the management of Uphaar Cinema is also clear from the fact that they had excess seating capacity by at least 52 seats in the balcony and the right side gangway as well as right side exit had been closed. It is submitted that by closing the exit which leads to the foyer towards the staircase on the right side, the patrons could not come out and use the second staircase which resulted in almost a stampede as everyone was trying to go towards the only staircase available for going out of the cinema building and which al....
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....een able to make ourselves agreeable with Dr.Rajeev Dhawan. We have already held in our judgment dated 29th February, 2000 that the petition for claiming damages in public law by filing a petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India was maintainable. We have also already held that it was not a matter in which highly disputed questions of fact arose and it appears to be a matter in which facts could be ascertained very easily. The earlier observations of the Court, in our view, are relevant to quote at this stage as under :- "The Rules and Regulations are clear and unambiguous. Everybody knows them or should know them. It cannot seriously be disputed that the private Respondents, who were or are owners of Uphaar Cinema were (as are all cinema owners) bound to strictly comply with the. It cannot be seriously disputed that the Govt. agencies are entrusted with duty to ensure that the Rules and Regulations were complied with. It cannot be seriously disputed that a theatre is one place where a large number of people have to sit in an enclosed area for a fairly long period of time. There is a potential threat to life and safety if fire, leakages of gas etc. take place....
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....ns were complied and whether there have been deviations or not. It is clarified that Court is not giving any finding at this stage and is not holding that there have been breach of Rules and/or Regulations and/or unauthorised deviations and/or failure to enforce. All that the Court is saying is that at this stage it cannot conclude that the petition is not maintainable. In this view of the matter we do not find much substance in contentions that Petitioners could not have and should not have been permitted to rely upon numerous documents. All the documents shown to the Court were part of the Naresh Kumar Report. As Mr.Desai and Dr.Dhawan have repeatedly commented, the Petition is based on that Report. Thus all Respondents have all along known that material in support of the Petition would come from that Report. The Report was with Respondent No.2 it was produced in Court by Respondent No.2. Petitioners did not have a full copy of the Report with them. After it was produced by Respondent No.2, Petitioner relied on it. Having known all along that the Petition was based on that Report any Respondent could have asked for and take inspection of that Report. Not having done so t....
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....ee, they did not have crimping machine with them at the time of repairing the cables in the morning. According to Mr.Satija, they replaced the sockets of the LT side cable and the transformer was put on load and LT main was loaded/operated by lineman of the zone. After such repairs, the system was put on operation. At about 3.55 p.m. there was load shedding and there was no electric supply to Uphaar Cinema between 3.55 p.m. and 4.55 p.m. The supply was restored at about 4.55 p.m. At about 4.57 pm/4.58 pm sparking was observed in the transformer of the Delhi Vidyut Board. Mr.K.L.Malhotra, the Manager of the cinema hall reached the spot and tried to control the fire by throwing sand on it. Due to intense sparking the socket of B-1 lead of B-phase started melting and came out of the nut and bolt of the bus bar and fell on the radiator fin. As there was still electric supply in this cable, the sparking continued when it came in contact with the radiator fins leading to the melting of fin metal and thus creating a hole therein. Because of arcing at the radiator fins when the cable came in contact with fin, a hole was created and the oil came gushing out of this hole and spread on the fl....
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....alcony area and was normally not used for going out of the cinema building. Besides there was a glass door between the right side stairway and the balcony foyer which blocked the exit of the patrons for quite some time towards the other stairway. As the time passed, the balcony foyer, the balcony and the toilets almost became gas chambers resulting in suffocation. Most of the patrons who had died due to asphyxiation had died in this area. Some enterprising patrons broke open the glass panes of the windows in the foyer area and they were rescued by the Fire Brigade from that place. It is the stand of the petitioners that emergency lights were not on, there was no public address system to guide the patrons as to how to get out of the building and no assistance was provided by the officials of the cinema hall and at the end of the day 59 people had died in the unfortunate incident due to asphyxiation and more than 100 were injured. 54. While deciding this petition in the exercise of our jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution, we are not required to go into the factual details of the matter nor without sufficient material before us we are in a position to hold as to what....
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....as to what extent each of the public authorities was negligent and/or responsible in the non-compliance of rules meant for the safety of the patrons in the cinema hall and what can be the extent of their liability in that regard. We will also make an endeavor to find out whether any liability can be fastened upon the Delhi Fire Service because of their having allegedly not responded promptly to put off the fire and rescue the persons from the cinema hall and if so, what can be their liability in that regard. We are also to find out whether the State is not obliged to provide necessary assistance at the time of such mishaps to the victims and to what extent the State has failed to discharge its duties in providing necessary assistance to the victims of the incident and what suggestions in that regard are required so as to avoid such mishaps in future. As the fire had started from the transformer of the Delhi Vidyut Board, we will like to deal with the Delhi Vidyut Board first. Thereafter we will like to discuss the role of the Licensing Authority and the licensee of the Uphaar Cinema and whether any of their actions has resulted in the spreading of smoke in the balcony and hampered ....
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....as pressure. It was submitted that since the relays at various sub-stations all over Delhi were getting stolen, it was difficult for the Board to have control over un-attended sub-stations like the one at Uphaar Cinema and though the over current and earth relays were found missing at the time of incident in the sub-station at Uphaar Cinema, the back up protection was still available and the feeder tripped from the AIIMS grid thereby allegedly conforming the functionality of the protection system. Insofar as the provision of cable trenches was concerned, the case of the Delhi Vidyut Board was that it was not possible to dig the cable trenches because of the burning of the leads and fire in the adjoining area, however, adequate quantum of sand was provided in the trenches for soaking oil and there was no need for provision of slabs in trenches when it was adequately covered with sand. This arrangement is averred to be in conformity with the Rule 64 (2) (g) of the Indian Electricity Rules. 59. To the findings in the Naresh Kumar Enquiry Report that fire had started from the Delhi Vidyut Board transformer and then spread outwards, the submission of the Delhi Vidyut Board is that th....
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....ing to be ensured with transformers installed indoors is proper ventilation, that is, free movement of air round all the four sides; the level of the transformer base should be higher than the highest flood and storm water level of that area. Under para 7.3.1.2 the transformer should be kept well away from the wall. The minimum recommended spacing between the walls of the transformer periphery from the point of proper ventilation should be around 1.25 mm. Under para 7.3.1.4 for indoor installations the air inlets and outlets shall be of adequate sizes and so placed so as to ensure proper air circulation for the efficient cooling of the transformers. The inlets should preferably be as near the floor as possible and the outlets as high as the building allows to enable the heated air to escape readily and be replaced by cool air. Despite this provision having been made in the I.S. Code, the submission of the Board is that one ventilation was available on the western side of the transformer room apart from an exhaust fan on the eastern side and in addition to this, the shutter of the transformer room was also having grills thereby allowing better decimation of heat. 61. Insofar as t....
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....nspector. Had there been any looseness due to hammering of the sockets, the LT leads would have been detached from the socket tail, which has not happened in this case. Even the socket tail of B-phase lead, which got detached from the bus bar, has been found intact. The socket in question has been detached from its mouth and not from its tail. Therefore, the issue of hammering and not crimping is irrelevant. 63. It is, Therefore, the case of the Board that since the electric supply was restored at 4.55 PM after a gap of one hour, it would have taken at least 8-10 minutes for it to heat up and melt and get detached from the bus bar and thereafter the heat generated must have been utilised for melting the steel of the radiator fin which resulted in the creation of a hole in the radiator fin. The contention is that this heat would not have been sufficient to burn the transformer oil coming out at the rate of 9 litres per minute from the 2 cm diameter hole created by the socket so detached. It is also the contention of the Board that LT side of the transformer/sockets were repaired by DVB officials at 11.30 am on 13.6.97. The supply remained in operation successfully and effectively....
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....ormer, it is mandatory under the rules to get approval from the electrical Inspector after he had inspected the equipment. Admittedly, even as per their own case, the Delhi Vidyut Board had not taken the approval from the electrical Inspector at the time of installation of 1000 KVA transformer. Though, it is the case of the Delhi Vidyut Board that with a view to ensure continuous supply of electricity to the consumer, they did not feel it necessary to have the equipment inspected by the electrical inspector and to get his approval before the transformer was made operational, however, in our view, this argument does not inspire any confidence inasmuch as the Board is not expected to do away with the safety standards in the name of supply of continuous electricity to the consumers. Safety is the first aspect which has to be looked into by all concerned including the Board and even if there is any apprehension of the safety standards having not been followed, the transformer ought not have been made functional. Moreover, there is clear deviation and violation of the rules by the Delhi Vidyut Board by not providing the circuit breakers and relays which are necessary to be provided unde....
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....reats its own manual of maintenance prescribing periodical maintenance of the transformers/sub-stations by its officers. Under the I.S.Code, the cables are required to be joined with the help of a crimping machine. It is an admitted case of the parties that on the fateful day when the fire had taken place in the morning, the staff which had gone to repair the damage did not have in its possession a crimping machine and the cables were, accordingly, joined by hammering. At this stage, we do not want to go into the question as to whether the desired result had been obtained by hammering but the fact remains that the staff of the Board has clearly violated the provisions of the I.S. Code insofar as the joining of cables was concerned. Prima facie, it appears to us that the desired result of joining the cables cannot be obtained by hammering which could otherwise be obtained by crimping of the cables. In case, the desired result could be obtained by hammering, there was no need to make a provision in the Code to join the cables by crimping. The fact that a provision has been made in the Code for joining the cables with the aid of crimping machine clearly shows that there is difference ....
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....vel there remained no outlet for proper air circulation in terms of Rules 7.3.1.1, 7.3.1.2 and 7.3.1.4. The exhaust which was provided in the transformer room would have thrown the hot air from the transformer room to the outer area on the ground floor from where there was no outlet for the hot air to go out and the hot air finding no outlet would naturally go upwards through the stairs. This violation of the rules was not pointed out either by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi or by the licensing authority or even by the officers of the Delhi Vidyut Board from 1972 to 1997. The construction of this wall, as would be pointed out later, has played major role in spreading the fire to the balcony area which has resulted in the deaths. For construction of this wall, in our opinion, not only the owners are responsible but even the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, the licensing authority and the Delhi Vidyut Board are equally responsible and liable. 68. Another question which may arise for consideration is whether the installation of transformer on the ground floor of the building was a natural user and even if it was a natural user, whether it was an hazardous activity carried out by....
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....ion of the transformer on the ground floor of the cinema building for purposes of supply of electricity to consumers who were not connected with the cinema, was a non-natural user, in our view, the rule of absolute and strict liability will apply in this case as well as it applies in the case of any activity which is inherently dangerous. In any case, installation of a transformer, in our view, is also hazardous activity inasmuch as there is always a danger of short circuiting and sparking in case, it is not properly installed and maintained and the schedule of maintenance of the transformer is not adhered to. As it is an unmanned transformer and admittedly maintenance schedule was not adhered to by the Board and the installation of the transformer being an hazardous activity carried on by the Board at a place which was not meant for the same, for this reason as well the rule of strict liability will apply to the present case. 70. The Central Forensic Science Laboratory in its report dated 27th June, 1997 has observed that the constant intense sparking between the detached phase cable and radiator base had initiated the fire and the same spread along the oil spill. It was observ....
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....d temporarily fitted with the earth strip i.e. twisting of earth cable. iii) There was no cable trench to conceal the cable. iv) H.T. Panel Board of transformer do not have any relay system to trip the transformer in case of any fault. v) The Buchholtz Relay system was not fitted on the transformer. vi) Temperature meter was not found fitted on the transformer. The physical examination of D.V.B. Transformer reveal that the cables on bus bars on L.T. Side did not have check nuts. Except one lower terminal of phase Y and neutral terminal. The check nut of neutral terminal was found in loose condition. The blue phase single cable at the top along with cable-end-socket (detached cable) fell down on radiator fin due to constant arching/sparking at nut bolt portion on bus bar, decoiling effect of cable and weight of cable. All coupled together led to eating away of metal of cable end socket resulting in U shape cable socket end." 71. The electrical inspector also gave a report on 25th June, 1997 about the shortcomings in the transformer as well as the cause of the fire. The observations of the electrical inspector were as under :- ....
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....tch Room. 7. Battery Charger & L.T. Panel Board were found almost damaged with fire. 8. No protection relays/system were found installed on any of the H.T. Breakers of the said H.T. Four-Panel Board, from where the H.T. Supply to 1000 KVA transformer in question had been fed. It was told by the representative of Uphaar Cinema present at the side that they had lodged a complaint with DVB Complaint Centre regarding sparking in DVS transformer on 13.6.97. The DVB staff attended to the complaint on the noon of that day & started that they had switched 'ON' the transformer after replacing the two nos. of burnt cable-end-sockets of Y-phase of L.T. supply cables. From the above it is evidence that due to loose connection of the cable-end-socket of the B-phase Bus-Bar of transformer, there were sparking at the said connection. At that time, the transformer was 'on load' & the current supplied from the 1000 KVA transformer was passing through there Bus-Bars & at the same time sparking was there on the B-phase Bus-Bar, thus the magnitude of the current supplied through B-phase could be large, which had caused excessive heating of the transformer B-phase Bu....
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.... also the protection relays/system which were missing, been there (on the H.T. Breaker controlling the supply to transformer in question) to protect the transformer against Over-Current, Earth Fault & excessive Gas Pressure (Buchholtz Relay)." 72. The Executive Engineer (Electrical) of the Public Works Department (electrical division) also in his report submitted on 29th June, 1997 has observed that there was no oil except a little bit of oil at the bottom of the transformer tank; that all the cable connected to the LT terminal box of the transformer were damaged and insulation of cables was heavily burnt up to the wall of LT room; the transformer room was fully dark with black smoke particles deposited on its all walls and roof; The cubical LT panel was heavily burnt. It was also observed that when the socket of the cable melted because of intense heat and sparking it got away from the nuts and bolts and came sliding down from the fins of the radiator and caused sparking marks on the radiator fins and finally it struck to one of the radiator fins and since heavy current was flowing due to earth fault and temperature, the radiator sheet got damaged creating a hole in the fin res....
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.... with the radiator. Not only eye witnesses but even the experts have given their opinion that it was entirely because of the intense sparking caused by the cable coming into contact with the radiator fin that a hole was created in the fin after it had melted and the oil gushing out of the fin came into contact with the sparkings and thus caught fire. It is immaterial for the purposes of this case as to when the electricity had stopped coming to the transformer because of the circuit breaking at the AIIMS grid. We have, Therefore, no hesitation in holding that the fire started from the Delhi Vidyut Board transformer and later on spread when the burning oil came in contact with the cars parked on the ground floor in vicinity of the transformer room. 74. Next question to be examined is as to how the fire spread and as to how the smoke reached the balcony floor of the building. From the photographs which have been placed on record and about which there is no dispute, it is clear that a white contessa car at the time of taking the photographs was parked next to the HT room which is adjacent to the transformer room. Whether or not the car was parked at the time of fire just in front o....
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....been no parking on the ground floor of the building in the vicinity of the transformer, in our view, neither the fire would have spread nor smoke would have travelled to the balcony area and the fire may have been confined only to the transformer room. 75. The scene of occurrence of fire at the Uphaar cinema complex was examined by the experts of the Central Forensic Science Laboratory. After inspection of the complex, the opinion of the Central Forensic Science Laboratory was that the fire had started from the Delhi Vidyut Board transformer which is situated in the western portion of the car parking hall situated in the ground floor of the cinema complex. The transformer oil coming out from this hall came in contact with the cars parked in the vicinity of the transformer as is evident from the statement of the witnesses. The cushion sheets, tyres, petrol/diesel of the cars besides other material like wood resulted in growth and spread of fire. Because of poor ventilation on the ground floor of the building and because of deficient oxygen supply, the fire resulted in generation of high smoke emanating toxic gases like carbon monoxide, Hydrochloric gas, Cozen gas, etc. The Centra....
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....rom rear staff side, three doors of double planks have been forcibly opened from the inner side of Cinema Hall." 76. It is thus clear that the smoke travelled through the opening from the bottom to top from the stairways and also through the stairways to the parking area to the auditorium side. Since the balcony was at a height and there was no opening on the ground floor from where the smoke could go outside the building, smoke from all sources entered the balcony, mainly from western stairways of the building. It appears that because of the entrance to the parking lot being open, the air coming from that side prevented the smoke from entering the stairways on the right side for some time and the travel of the smoke towards the balcony was mainly from the left side stairways. As per report of Naresh Kumar, the design of the building enabled the noxious fumes and smoke to travel quickly through the stairways into the lobby into first and second floors in the hall. As already mentioned by us above, by the time the patrons became aware of the fire, the dense smoke had already entered the balcony floor and it had become almost impossible for the patrons to get out of the same. The ....
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....ts were added by Uphaar cinema in the balcony and 57 seats were added in the main hall. These seats were allowed to be added despite objections by the Chief Fire Officer to the effect that even in normal circumstances the exit facilities are seriously hampered by people rushing out of the cinema hall and in case of panicky situation of a minor nature, the people would be put to great difficulty which might even result in stampede and it was, Therefore, not advisable to allow extra seats in the cinema hall. However, since the Fire Officer was made to understand that the licensees have to be compensated for the loss caused to them by the restrictions imposed on the rights of admission to the cinema halls, the Chief Fire Officer then considered the case of individual cinemas and agreed to the increase of seats in some of the cinemas. On 27th July, 1979 the Lieutenant Governor issued another notification cancelling with immediate effect the earlier notification including the notification dated 30th September, 1976 as a result of which 43 seats were added in the balcony and 57 seats were added in the main hall by Uphaar Cinema. This notification was challenged by certain cinema owners i....
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....on of the exits, which is important for the safety of the patrons visiting a crowded place like the cinema hall. The exits and the gangways have to be provided for easy egress of the patrons from the cinema hall not only in normal circumstances but also in a panicky situation at a time when some untoward incident like fire takes place in the cinema hall. When all the persons sitting in the balcony would move towards one direction as exits are only in that direction, the same would naturally result in stampede and it will also be difficult for all those persons to get out of the building within a reasonable time. In normal circumstances, such a situation may not create any problem, however, it is the duty of the licensing authority and the Chief Fire Officer to ensure that these exits and gangways, etc. are meant for easy egress not in normal circumstances but also in panicky situation of serious nature like fire, etc. Not only that the gangways leading to the exit on the right side was closed but even the rear exit on the right side was closed by providing an eight seater box by the management. The same also, as already observed above, resulted in closure of the exit on the right s....
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....ent is to be used for provided in the basement have parking of vehicles. A portion of the removed and the basement was basement has been covered and let out at present not in the occupation to M/s.East Coast Breweries and of M/s.East Coast Breweries Distilleries who are using some portion and Distilleries. They are of the area let out to them as their office reported to have vacated it. and the resent for storing crates of beer. 2. As per the sanctioned plan, the distance The wooden plank flooring has between the stilt floor and floor of the been removed and M/s.Naviers auditorium should be 17'6". An are reported to have vacated the additional floor has been created space. The R.S. Joist have between the stilt floor and the floor however, not been removed. of the auditorium by providing a wooden plank flooring. A part of it has been let out to M/s.Naviers whereas the rest of it is lying vacant. The creation of additional space is in gross violation of the plan sanctioned by the M.C.D. 3. 3rd floor has been let out to various The Administration office shown organisations. Tract Pumps Sales on IIIrd floor in the sanctioned Pvt.Ltd., Public Construction Co. plan is let out to Track Pu....
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....thority vide his letter No.F.2(48)/ETO/ 1052 dated 12.3.76 (Page 45 to 50). 79. The Lieutenant Governor on receipt of this report disposed of the appeal by its order dated 24th March, 1984 and directed as under :- "1. The appellant shall remove the objections mentioned at Sl.Nos..3,6,9 & 10 by 31.8.1984. 2. The appellant shall make an application to the concerned local body i.e. MCD for regularization/compounding of the objections mentioned at Sl.Nos.2,4,8 & 11 within a period of seven days from the date of this order and the said local body shall dispose off this application within a period of one month. Such objections which the local body is not willing to regularise, shall be removed by the appellant by 31.8.1984. 3. The appellant shall report compliance of the directions at Sl.No.1 & 2 above to the Licensing Authority on or before 1st Sep., 84. 4. The appellant shall also give an undertaking to the Licensing Authority, in the form and manner prescribed by it, that he shall not again indulge in any of the violations that he has removed on his own or in terms of this orders. In case any one of the directions is not complied with, t....
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....gement. Fire fighting is not adequate which may effect the adequate safety. If there is any fire hazard or no proper fire fighting equipment and also respondent called upon various serious irregularities, if any, after the petitioner fails to comply with the same, the respondent will be at liberty to move the Court for vacation of the stay order and for obtaining the appropriate directions in this regard." 81. It was submitted in the application filed on June 28, 1993 for vacation of stay that in the counter affidavit filed by the licensing authority in that writ petition, various violations of the Cinematograph Rules had already been pointed out by the licensing authority and it was for that reason that the license was suspended for four days. It was submitted that despite the Delhi Fire (Prevention and Safety) Act having come into force with effect from 1st March, 1987 and despite several requests made by the licensing authority to remove the fire hazards, the licensee had not removed the violations though they were admitted by them in their reply dated 1st February, 1993. It was, Therefore, prayed in the application that in the totality of the circumstances and keeping in vie....
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....lear that most of the violations which existed in the cinema hall and due to which the license was suspended for a period of four days in 1983 existed even up to the date of unfortunate incident of fire. In these objections mentioned by the D.C.P. (Licensing) in his affidavit of 1st August, 1996 the violations about the closure of the vertical gangway by the side of the wall, reducing the width of the gangways, closure of the exit on the rear side of the balcony, etc. were not pointed out, perhaps for the reasons that they were approved by the D.C.P. (Licensing) himself. The authorities had closed their eyes to the violation of rules and regulations existing in the theatre. We are, Therefore, clearly of the view that scant respect had been shown to the adherence of the safety regulations. Safety of the patrons appears to be the last item in the agenda of the management of the cinema and every effort was made by the owners of the cinema to add as many seats as possible so as to earn more profit. With a view not to influence the criminal trial going on against certain persons, we are not, at this stage, suggesting that there was any connivance or collusion between the owners of the c....
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....vie was still on. If the theory of the Delhi Vidyut Board is accepted that the electricity was switched off immediately the cable was snapped from its socket and the circuit was broken, the movie must have been shown with the aid of generator and if the theory of the Delhi Vidyut Board is not correct about the circuit having broken within seconds of the cable having been snapped from its socket, the movie must have been continued to be shown with the aid of the electricity before it was completely shut out. Had timely warning being given to the patrons sitting in the hall by the management of the hall about the fire having taken place in the sub-station on the ground floor of the building in the parking area, the tragedy might not occurred. It is in evidence, which is not in dispute, that the movie was stopped by the operator from the operator room after some time of his being informed over the intercom and also by the staff Dayanand regarding the outbreak of fire. Immediately after the viewers were informed by the cinema staff, the lights went off and in the absence of any emergency light it became pitch dark in the hall. The presence of dense black smoke in the hall aggravated th....
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....the same. No doubt some of the members of the staff tried to help the viewers, however, the effort was not sufficient. As already mentioned above, poor ventilation and the burning of car seats, tyres, petrol, diesel, transformer oil and cable insulation, etc. were responsible for the growth and spread of fire and smoke. The absence of sufficient oxygen though helped in not spreading the fire, however, the same resulted in high smoke generation emanating toxic gases like carbon monoxide, Hydrochloric gas, Cozen gas, etc. and they in fact were the cause of fatality of the viewers in the balcony and the area outside the same because of asphyxiation. The staff of the theatre was not prepared nor trained for such an emergency. They were also not trained to meet such type of unprecedented situations and most of them, Therefore, ran away from the place of incident for their own lives. 84. It is the contention of both Mr.Tulsi appearing on behalf of the petitioners as well as Dr.Dhawan on behalf of the owners of the cinema that the Delhi Fire Service had played a contributory role in aggravating the unfortunate tragedy. The contention of Dr.Dhawan is that the priority was given by the s....
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....dian Oil Corporation building across the main road was utilised by the staff. The Chief Fire Officer in his affidavit has stated :- "That after the first unit reached on the scene it may be clarified that this does not need suction pump. About 4500 liters water available in the fire engine is used immediately through centrifugal pump provided on each fire engine. No fire engine need a suction pump for using water available on fire engine. It is indicated that the subsequent equipments arrived at the site is as under:- Time of dispatch Name of equipment Quantity 1711 hrs. Water tenders 4 1716 hrs. Motor pump 1 1716 hrs. Water bourse 1 1716 hrs. Ambulance 1 1726 hrs. Water tender 5 1726 hrs. Motor pump 2 1726 hrs. Ambulance 2 1726 hrs. Hydraulic platform 2 1732 hrs. Water tenders 7 1732 hrs. Water bourses 2 1732 hrs. Light van 1 1732 hrs. Control van 1 1732 hrs. Hose tender 1 1732 hrs. Motor pump 1 1732 hrs. Mini buses 2 1751 hrs. Water tenders 8 1751 hrs. Bronto 1 1751 hrs. Ambulances 1 1751 hrs. Motor pump 2 1751 hrs. Hose tenders 1 It may be mentioned that times indicated are for dispatch of the equipment and not arrival of the equipment at the cinema ha....
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....ping from height of about 6 meters. One such equipment is available with the fire service but it is not possible to respond this on each and every call. The equipment can be sent on demand but the situation on the fire incident was where both rescue as well as fire fighting were required to be conducted simultaneously, the priority was to be given to fire fighting and smoke from the fire at stilt/ground level was feeding the staircases thereby completely blocking the means of escape. Delhi Fire Service has taken the right action and saved many lives. That it is incorrect to say that fire tenders arrived on the sport for extinguishing the fire caused by electric transformer with water instead of foam or other suitable extinguishers. Foam or other type of extinguishers are not used by any fire service. The fire extinguishers are only useful in the incipient stages when the fire is very small. When the fire becomes big, this cannot be extinguished by user of fire extinguishers. It may also be pointed out that each fire engine carries a foam making branch and foam drums concentrate for fighting oil fires, if required. However, it may be clarified that the flash point being ver....
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....for making the Delhi Fire Service more efficient and effective to meet the emergent situation for which it is meant. It is to be hoped that there would be no administrative delays in implementing such recommendation which enhances fire safety. 87. It is the case of the owners of the theatre that the smoke did not spread due to any structural defect/deviation or violation in the cinema building. It is admitted case that at the time of sanction of the theatre only a 3 feet high parapet wall was sanctioned behind the transformer room along the ramp. Though it is the contention of the petitioners as also that of the Delhi Vidyut Board that the 3 feet high parapet wall was raised up to the ceiling level without any approval of the building plans from the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, however, the case of the theatre owners is that this 3 feet high parapet wall was raised up to the ceiling level only after the plans were sanctioned by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi. As already observed by us above, it is not for this Court to decide at this stage whether or not the plans were sanctioned for raising the height of 3 feet parapet wall to the ceiling height of 12 feet, however, the ....
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....se. In the present case, we are of the opinion that if the plans were approved by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, it was clearly an error on their part and the same was approved in violation of the rules and regulations not only under the Electricity Act but also under the building bye laws and other provisions of the Cinematograph Act. It is our experience that the authorities, including the Licensing Authority, the Delhi Vidyut Board, the health authorities and the municipal authorities adopt a casual approach in inspecting the cinemas and other places visited by large number of people keeping in view the safety aspect of the visitors. It is required of the Corporation and other authorities to approve the plans of a theatre and other buildings visited by large number of persons, keeping in view their safety and keeping in view the provisions of the Delhi Fire (Prevention and Fire) Safety Act and other like provisions. The authorities are required to heavily come down upon the owners of the building visited by large number of people if the safety standards are not adhered to. 88. For all the above reasons, we are of the considered view that the Licensee of the Uphaar Cinema....
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....ence is thus a breach of duty or lack of proper care in doing something, in short, it is want of attention and doing of something which a prudent and a reasonable man would not do (vide Black's Law Dictionary). Though sometimes, the word `inadvertence' stands and used as a synonym to negligence, but in effect negligence represents a state of the mind which however is much serious in nature than mere inadvertence. There thus exists a differentiation between the two expressions - whereas inadvertence is a milder form of negligence, `negligence' by itself means and imply a state of mind where there is no regard for duty or the supposed care and attention which one ought to bestow. It was held that duty of care varies from situation to situation - whereas it would be the duty of the teacher to supervise the children in the playground but the supervision, as the children leave the school, may not be required in the same degree as is in the play-field. 91. The facts in M.S.Grewal and Another Vs. Deep Chand Sood and Others (Supra) were that a picnic was organized for school children on the banks of the river Beas. Students were accompanied by five teachers. 14 children along with two t....
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....rmally been the amount of compensation awarded in such cases. The Court while dealing with this issue held as under :- 14. Negligence in common parlance means and imply `failure to exercise due care, expected of a reasonable prudent person'. It is a breach of duty and negligence in law ranging from inadvertence to shameful disregard of safety of others. In most instances, it is caused by heedlessness or inadvertence, by which the negligent party is unaware of the results which may follow from his act. Negligence is thus a breach of duty or lack of proper care in doing something, in short, it is want of attention and doing of something which a prudent and a reasonable man would not do (vide Black's Law Dictionary). Though sometimes, the work `inadvertence' stands and used as a synonym to negligence, but in effect negligence represents a state of the mind which however is much serious in nature than mere inadvertence. There is thus existing a differentiation between the two expressions - whereas inadvertence is a milder form of negligence, `negligence' by itself mean and imply a state of mind where there is no regard for duty or the supposed care and attention which one ough....
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....6 of the Constitution. The appellant though initially very strongly contended that while the negligence aspect has been dealt with under penal law already, the claim for compensation cannot but be left to be adjudicated by the Civil Law and thus the Civil court's jurisdiction ought to have been invoked rather than by way of a writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution. This plea of non-maintainability of the writ petition though advanced at the initial stage of the submissions but subsequently the same was not pressed and as such we need not detain ourselves on that score, excepting however recording that the law courts exists for the society and they have an obligation to meet the social aspirations of citizens since law courts must also respond to the needs of the people. In this context reference may be made to two decisions of this Court: The first in line, is the decision in Nilabati Behera (Smt.) alias Lalita Behera (Through the Supreme Court Legal Aid Committee) V. State of Orissa and Others 1993CriLJ2899 ) wherein this court relying upon the decision in Rudal Sah (Rudal Sah Vs. State of Bihar & Anr. : 1983CriLJ1644 ) decried the illegality and impropriety in awardi....
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....ity of expression firmly established the current trend of justice oriented approach. Law Courts will lose their efficacy if it cannot possibly respond to the need of the society-technicalities there might be many but the justice oriented approach ought not to be thwarted on the basis of such technicality since technicality cannot and ought not to outweigh the course of justice. 29. The only other issue, thus left outstanding in the matter under consideration pertains to the quantum of compensation. It is at this juncture that we record our appreciation for the gesture of Mr.Bahuguna who at the very commencement of the hearing submitted that while the figure of Rs. 5 lacs compensation per child seem to be strangely absurd but he recommended a figure of Rs. 2 lacs per child as monetary compensation for the events that had taken place; compensation there cannot be any, far less monetary compensation, for the unfortunate death of one's own child - it cannot be termed to be a solarium. Unfortunately the situation in the facts of the matter does not warrant us to accept the same as a result of which we wish to deal with the matter in slightly more greater detail. 30. Mr....
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....this Court has had the occasion to consider an award of a former Chief Justice pertaining to the assessment of compensation by reason of a huge accidental fire. Significantly a writ petition was filed in this Court and this Court though it expedient to have the claims examined by a former Chief Justice of the Country and the latter duly and upon adaptation of multiplier method finalised the quantum of compensation which more or less barring some exceptions stands accepted by this Court in the decision noticed above. In Lata Wadhwa's decision factual score records that while 150th Birth Anniversary of Sir Jamshedji Tata, was being celebrated on 3rd March, 1989 within the factory premises at Jamshedpur and a large number of employees, their families including small children had been invited, a devastating fire suddenly engulfed the Pandal and the area surrounding and by the time the fire was extinguished, a number of persons lay dead and many were suffering with burn injuries. The death toll reached 6-0 and the total number of persons injured were 113. The factual score in Lata Wadhwa's case further depicts that amongst the persons dead, there were 26 children, 25 women and 9 men and....
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....ility of the multiplier method, the Court observed: " The multiplier method is logically sound and legally well-established method of ensuring a `just' compensation which will make for uniformity and certainty of the awards. A departure from this method can only be justified in rare and extraordinary circumstances and very exceptional cases." 32. In the decision of Susamma Thomas (supra), this court in paragraphs 7 & 8 of the report observed: "7. In a fatal accident action, the accepted measure of damages awarded to the dependants is the pecuniary loss suffered by them as a result of the death. How much has the widow and family lost by the father's death? The answer to this lies in the oft-quoted passage from the opinion of Lord Wright in Davies Vs. Powell Duffryn Associated Collieries Ltd. 1942 AC 617 which says: The starting point is the amount of wages which the deceased was earning, the ascertainment of which to some extent may depend on the regularity of his employment. Then there is an estimate of how much was required or expended for his own personal and living expenses. The balance will give a datum or basic figure which will generally be....
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....ncy is 70 years, this method would multiply the loss of dependency for 45 years - virtually adopting a multiplier of 45 - and even if one-third of one-fourth is deducted there from towards the uncertainties of future life and for immediate lump sum payment, the effective multiplier would be between 30 and 34. This is wholly impermissible. We are, aware that some decisions of the High Courts and of this Court as well have arrived at compensation on some such basis. These decisions cannot be said to have laid down a settled principle. They are merely instances of particular awards in individual cases. The proper method of computation is the multiplier method. Any departure, except in exceptional and extraordinary cases, would introduce inconsistency of principle, lack of uniformity and an element of unpredictability for the assessment of compensation. Some judgments of the High Courts have justified a departure from the multiplier method on the ground that Section 110-B of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1939 insofar as it envisages the compensation to be `just', the statutory determination of a `just' compensation would unshackle the exercise from any-rigid formula. It must be borne in mind....
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.... of Mr.Bahuguna submissions pertains to the theory of ability to pay: Audited accounts have been produced for the year 1995 depicting a situation, though not of having stringency but the situation truly cannot but be ascribed to be otherwise comfortable to pay as directed by the High Court. The matter, however, prolonged in the law courts in the usual manner and it took nearly six years for its final disposal before this Court - these six years however had rendered the financial stability of the school concerned in a much more stronger situation than what it was in the year 1995. The school as of date stands out to be one of the most affluent schools in the country as such ability to pay cannot be termed to be an issue in the matter and on the wake thereto we are not inclined to deal with the same in any further detail. 37. In the view have taken as above, we could have awarded a larger sum but judicial propriety deters us from doing so, since in the normal course of events appellate forum ought not to interfere with the award of compensation." 92. One other judgment which we need to mention at this stage is the judgment of the Supreme Court in Lata Wadhwa Vs. State of ....
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....the counter affidavit, the company did not wish to treat the litigation as an adversarial one and the matter was left to the Court for determining what monetary compensation should be paid according to law after taking into consideration all the benefits and facilities already extending and continuing as were summarised in the affidavit of the company. After hearing the parties, the Court requested Mr.Y.V.Chandrachud, former Chief Justice of India, to look into the matter and determine the compensation payable to the legal heirs of the deceased as well as compensation payable to the injured persons. Mr.Y.V.Chandrachud submitted his report granting compensation to the tune of Rs. 1,19,58,320/- in favor of the dependents of the deceased persons and Rs. 288 lacs as interim compensation in favor of the injured. Mr.Y.V.Chandrachud while submitting his report about the quantum of compensation payable to the dependents of the deceased as also the injured has applied the multiplier method and has kept into consideration the age of the deceased and the injured persons. After arriving at such compensation, Mr.Chandrachud had added a sum of Rs. 25,000/- as conventional figure on the total amo....
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....self could be taken into consideration, as was observed by the Court in its order dated 15.12.1993. So far as the determination of compensation in death cases is concerned, apart from the three decisions of the Andhra Pradesh High Court which had been mentioned in the order of this Court dated 15.12.1993, this Court in the case of G.M., Kerela SRTC Vs. Susamma Thomas exhaustively dealt with the question. It has been held in the aforesaid case that for assessment of damages to compensate the dependents, it has to take into account many imponderables, as to the life expectancy of the deceased and the dependents, the amount that the deceased would have earned during the remainder of his life, the amount that he would have contributed to the dependents during that period, the chances that the deceased may not have lived or the dependents may not live up to the estimated remaining period of their life expectancy, the chances that the deceased might have got better employment or income or might have lost his employment or income altogether. The Court further observed that the manner of arriving at the damages is to ascertain the net income of the deceased available for the support of ....
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....on made in the Report by Sh. Justice Chandrachud, on the basis of the aforesaid multiplier method, it is difficult for us to accept the contention of Ms Rani Jethmalani that the settled principle for determination of compensation has not been followed in the present case. The further submission of the learned counsel that the determination made is arbitrary, is devoid of any substance, as Shri Justice Chandrachud has correctly applied the multiplier, on consideration of all the relevant factors. Damages are awarded on the basis of financial loss and the financial loss is assessed in the same way as prospective loss of earnings. The basis figure, instead of being the net earnings, is the net contribution to the support of the dependents, which would have been derived from the future income of the deceased. When the basic figure is fixed, then an estimate has to be made of the probable length of time for which the earnings or contribution would have continued and then a suitable multiple has to be determined (a number of years' purchase), which will reduce the total loss to its present value, taking into account the proved risks of rise or fall in the income. In the case of Mallett V....
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....consideration the multifarious services rendered by the housewives for managing the entire family, even on a modest estimation, should be Rs. 3000/- per month and Rs. 36,000/- per annum. This would apply to all those housewives between the age group of 34 to 59 and as such who were active in life. The compensation awarded, Therefore should be recalculated, taking the value of services rendered per annum to be Rs. 36,000/- and thereafter, applying the multiplier, as has been applied already, and so far as the conventional amount is concerned, the same should be Rs. 50,000/- instead of Rs. 25,000/- given under the Report. So far as the elderly ladies are concerned, in the age group of 62 to 72 , the value of services rendered has been taken at Rs. 10,000/- per annum and the multiplier applied is eight. Though, the multiplier applied is correct, but the values of services rendered at Rs. 10,000/- per annum, cannot be held to be just and, we, Therefore, enhance the same to Rs. 20,000/- per annum. In their case, Therefore, the total amount of compensation should be redetermined, taking the value of services rendered at Rs. 20,000/- per annum and then after applying the multiplier, as al....
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.... At the same time, it must be held that a mere speculative possibility of benefit is not sufficient. Question whether there exists a reasonable expectation of pecuniary advantage is always a mixed question of fact and law. There are several decided cases on this point, providing the guidelines for determination of compensation in such cases but we do not think it necessary for us to advert, as the claimants had not adduced any materials on the reasonable expectation of pecuniary benefits, which the parents expected. In case of a bright and healthy boy, his performances in the school, it would be easier for the authority to arrive at the compensation amount, which may be different from another sickly, unhealthy, rickety child and bad student, but as has been stated earlier, nor an iota of material was produced before Shri Justice Chandrachud to enable him to arrive at a just compensation in such cases and, Therefore, he has determined the same on an approximation. Mr. Nariman, appearing for TISCO on his own, submitted that the compensation determined for the children of all age groups could be doubled, as in his views also, the determination made is grossly inadequate. Loss of a ....
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....ount, as indicated in Table II, expenses for psychotherapy has been taken into account, as indicated in Table III, effect on marriage prospects has been taken into account, as indicated in Table IV, non-pecuniary losses have been taking into account, as indicated in Table VII and even punitive damages have been taken into account, and finally the total amount of compensation has been arrived at. It may be stated that injured persons with burn injury of 10% and below have not been awarded any compensation. It may also be stated that while discussing the claim on daily expenses, cost of medical treatment and expenses for psychotherapy as well as punitive damages have been rejected, but in the ultimate tabular form, compensation has been awarded on that score also and since the Company has not raised any objection on that score, we do not intend to consider any nullify the said compensation amount, as indicated in the tabular form. It transpires from the Report of Shri Justice Chandrachud that in the statement of claim even there has been no indication as to the nature of burn injury suffered, the nature, duration and quality of treatment received, the requirement of future treatment ....
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....antum arrived at an enhancing the compensation, in respect of the injured persons, who suffered the burn injury on account of the tragic incident. It is true that persons having burn injury to the extent of 10% and below, have not been awarded any compensation and, Therefore, we, as a matter of compassion, award a lump sum of Rs. two lakhs in favor of each of those persons." 93. In the present case, as we have noticed above, there is not much of a dispute between the parties about the rules and regulations which are clear and unambiguous and everybody knows them and in any case should know them. It is also not in dispute that the Government is entrusted with the duty to ensure that the rules and regulations were to be complied with. It is also not in dispute that a theatre is a place where large number of people have to sit in an enclosed area for a long period of time and there is a potential threat to the life and safety if fire, leakage of gas, etc. takes place and this potential threat has to be guarded against. It cannot, Therefore, be said that the authorities as well as the cinema owners and its employees are under no obligation to provide and maintain all standards of sa....
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....ied along with ages of some of them has been given while the names of the persons injured in the incident has been given in Annexure-C to the writ petition. Nothing has been brought on record to show as to what was the nature of injuries sustained by each of the persons injured in the incident nor it is brought to the notice of the Court as to whether all or any one of them was hospitalised and, if so, for what period and whether there was any disability of temporary or permanent nature suffered by any one of the persons injured in the incident. In the absence of these particulars, we are of the opinion that it may not be possible for the Court to quantify the amount of compensation payable to each of the injured persons, however, for the mental pain, shock and agony which they must have experienced at the time of fire and thereafter, in our view, they are entitled to be compensated. We, Therefore, direct the aforesaid respondents to pay a sum of Rs. 1,00,000/- (Rupees One Lac only) to each of the persons injured in the incident by way of compensation for the mental pain, shock and agony suffered by them. 95. In Lata Wadhwa and Ors. Vs. State of Bihar (Supra), the Supreme Court ....
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....he claims of the deceased children. 96. The Supreme Court in G.M. Kerala State Road Transport Corporation Trivandrum Vs. Susamma Thomas (Mrs) and Ors. (Supra), has held that the multiplier method of compensation was the logically sound and well established method for determining the compensation. It was held that a departure might be justified only in rare and extraordinary circumstances and very exceptional cases. It has also been held by the Supreme Court in Sarla Dixit Vs.Balwant Yadav, etc. that unless there were special reasons, the Court should not deviate from the schedule of the Motor Vehicles Act in arriving at just compensation payable to the victims of the road accident. The principles laid down in the said judgment can also be applied in the present case. Though the actual income of none of the deceased is on record but having regard to the fact that all those persons who had either died or were injured were sitting in the balcony where the rate of admission was Rs. 50/- per seat, it can safely be concluded that the victims of the fire incident belong to reasonably well placed families and this Court will, Therefore, not be in error in holding that the average income....
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....ation to the victims of the incident. Though each one of the said respondents is jointly and severally liable to pay compensation to the victims of the unfortunate incident, we feel that we will have to apportion the liability of each one of these respondents and it would be open to anyone of the respondents from whom the entire amount is recovered to claim the share of the other respondents in accordance with the apportionment made by us. Since the owners of the cinema were the largest beneficiaries of the addition of seats in the balcony and raising of 3 feet high parapet wall to the ceiling level on the ground floor of the building and have earned profit from the same, we hold that respondents 11 and 12 shall be liable to pay compensation to the extent of 55% and taking into account the culpability and involvement of the government authorities in the non-observance of statutory requirements in the light of the findings recorded in this judgment, each of the other respondents, namely, Delhi Vidyut Board, respondent No.6, the licensing authority, respondent No.3 and Municipal Corporation of Delhi, respondent No.4 would be liable to pay 15% of the compensation. 99. In an affidav....
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....of the unfortunate incident. In our opinion, there may be culpability of some of the directors in non-observance of statutory rules and orders which have resulted in the spreading of fire reducing the means of egress from the balcony because of addition of seats and closure of gangways and exits, causing death of large number of persons on the fateful day, however, as it is a disputed question of fact and without evidence it may not be possible for us to hold as to which of the directors can be held to be guilty and as the matter is already before the Sessions Court which is inquiring into the question as to which of these persons could be held liable, we have refrained ourselves from giving any opinion on the culpability of the said individuals. 102. The only other point remaining for consideration is as to what recommendations are to be made by this Court to avoid such incidents/accidents in future and though, in our view, there was no negligence either on the part of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences or on the part of the Delhi Police or Safdarjung Hospital in treating the patients, however, we feel that it is the duty of the Government to provide assistance to the ....
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....aper and could not be started. 103. The Government of NCT of Delhi in its affidavit had stated that the health department had been monitoring the improvement regarding the availability of the Central Accident Trauma services. It is stated that at the time of Uphaar tragedy, wireless sets were functioning in five police districts as well as police headquarter; 13 CATS ambulances along with 26 para-medicos reached the uphaar site between 50 to 55 minutes. It is further stated that currently the ambulances have been linked through Motorola Radio Trunking Wireless Communication Equipment which has reduced the response time to 10 to 15 minutes and arrangements have also been made through wireless communication to give advance information of the patient to the hospital to reduce waiting time in the event of an emergency. It is stated that all efforts were being made to increase awareness of CATS advertisements through hoardings, kiosks, radio spots, Times FM, etc. In his affidavit, the Additional Secretary of Health Services, Government of NCT of Delhi stated that the Central Trauma Services came into being as a registered society in 1989 and was put under the control of the Governmen....
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.... wireless communications equipment and officers manning these ambulances also have one wireless hand set. iv) Each CATS ambulance is manned by two Assistant Junior Ambulance Officer (AJAOs) each in two shifts of 12 hours duty every day. These officials have been trained in providing first aid, transportation of patient, wireless communications and driving of vehicle." 104. It was further stated that the control room of the CATS was situated at Sushrut Trauma Centre 2, Metcaf Road, Delhi and the control room receives calls from the public at two toll free numbers 102 and 1099 and that it had wireless link with police control room and Delhi Fire Service which also gives information regarding accident/medical emergency cases on wireless and as and when an information regarding accident/medical emergency is received from the public/police/fire services or from any other source, the same is communicated to the ambulance located in the area or to the nearest available ambulance for being attended to. 105. We find that Naresh Kumar Enquiry Committee had made certain recommendations in respect of each of the party involved in the incident. Some of the recommendations made by Nares....
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....o that the healthiness including the fire safety aspect could be ensured. UPHAAR CINEMA 1. A short documentary film showing fire fighting preparedness in the cinema hall with reference to the particular hall where film is being screened should form a mandatory requirement before every film show. The film should include information regarding escape routes, exits signs and what the public should do in case of unfortunate incidents of fire in that cinema hall. This will not only educate the people about the theatre in which they have assembled but would also help the fire fighters in rescue operation. In fact general awareness regarding fire safety and prevention can be created through this and the message can go down to the masses very effectively. 2. False ceiling provided in any part of the building should have one house fire resistant rating and all the materials used for the construction of A/C should be of class one quality. The material used in false ceiling should be certified by reputed laboratory. 3. The parking should be compartmentalised properly from other floors by providing fire resistant partion of appropriate rating between the staircase ....
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....ers made of fire resistant material should be provided on each floor for emergency purposes. 18. There should be parallel public address system which can be operated from projector room as well as the manager's room. 19. Sprinkler system in the car parking basements and drencher system in the Hall and lobby should be made compulsory as there is as extensive use of combustible materials like wood, plyboard, particle board, curtains etc. in these places. 20. Safety audit should be made mandatory for the building more than 15 mt. in height as prescribed for the industries. Suitable amendments may be made in the Delhi Fire Prevention and Fire Safety Act, 1986 to this effect. 21. On the fateful day a large number of people were watching the movie from the aisles. The practice of placing extra chairs in the aisles should be prohibited. This may be treated as an offence leading to closure. 22. Low level lighting for staircases and emergency exit lights with emergency power supply backup should be provided. Electro-fluorescent fixtures must be provided which glow even in the dark. 23. All the employees must be trained in using fire exti....
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....lan of building before construction but also inspect all the buildings having more than 15 mtrs. Height, annually from the fire safety point of view. 2. It has been reported that recently some buildings have been declared fire hazardous by the DFS, but is really surprising that no building which has been declared fire hazardous was sealed by the competent authority for not complying with their directions. Now it is high time that irrespective of owners of high rise building, in case fire safety measures are not complied prompt, strict action should be taken. 3. The upkeeping and maintenance of the fire vehicles is in a very bad shape. Even small things which matter a lot in affecting the response time of the fire service i.e. the siren, emergency lights are not in working condition. Therefore the system of regular inspection of the fire stations of the DFS should be introduced to check the preparedness of the men and machines of DFS by appropriate level officer of Home Department/District Administration. 4. Presently there is one Water Officer for the NCT of Delhi whose job is to make available the continuous supply of water at the place of Medium/Major F....
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....should be inspected in a time bound schedule so that the corrective measures can be taken well in time. HEALTH SERVICES The National Capital Territory of Delhi is a city of more than 10 million people now and enjoys the dubious distinction of having the highest annual fatalities on its roads, among all the cities of the world. In accidents, like with all other medical emergencies, the critical factor is time taken to provide medical assistance to the injured. The Centralised Accident and Trauma Services have been introduced in the city around 1991 but the promised CATS Hospital was a non-starter due to lack of funds. There is definitely a need for such a specialized hospital in the city. 106. The Inquiry recommends creation of a City Health Service on the lines of the Delhi Fire Service consisting solely of medical and paramedical personnel, Ambulances and equipment. It should be designed to provide medical assistance to people immediately in situations of emergencies so that they can be attended to at the site itself and further, on way to hospitals. 107. The cost of creating such a service, to deal with any kind of emergency in the city, will be far less than the cost....
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.... have been taken by the Government to set up a centralised trauma service. As observed by the Naresh Kumar Committee, the National Capital Territory of Delhi has the dubious distinction of having the highest annual fatalities on its roads among all the cities in the world. In accidents the critical factor is the time taken to provide medical assistance to the injured. It is, Therefore, the need of the day to immediately start a centralised trauma service to provide medical assistance to the people immediately in situations of emergencies so that they can be attended to at the site itself and further on way to the hospitals. Though the petitioners have submitted that the petitioners association be associated in setting up and augmenting the centralised trauma service and other allied services in the city of Delhi, however, in our view, it is entirely for the Government to decided as to who are the persons who can be associated with the said service. We in this petition will not like to make any recommendation nor we give any direction for associating the petitioners association in the setting up of the said service. Besides approving the recommendations of the Naresh Kumar Committee....