Gujarat High Court on Tuesday asked the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation to take strict action and seal the buildings that do not have a fire safety system, and also against residential buildings that have not renewed their fire safety NOCs. The court noted that merely issuing notices has yielded no result.The court said that the AMC should take action against erring building administrators instead of them being repentant after a fire mishap. The court also noted the fact that about 85% buildings in the state have violated Building Use (BU) permission norms and asked the government to take action and place a report before it.A bench of Chief Justice Aravind Kumar and Justice A J Shastri was hearing a PIL filed by advocate Amit Panchal by appearing as party in person. He drew attention of the court that such litigation has been going on since as far back as 2000. The AMC lawyer, on his part, submitted that they have filed criminal cases in the court against erring persons in case of fire safety. It was brought on record that 1,126 residential buildings, 259 residential cum commercial buildings and 26 commercial buildings have not got fire safety NOCs.The chief justice opined that the civic body should disconnect the water and electricity supply line of the residential buildings. In the case of residential cum commercial buildings, they should seal such buildings for violations. The CJ also recalled the recent incidents of fire in the city. He was concerned about the safety of the occupants of residential buildings in case of fire.The AMC lawyer replied that they are motivating the administrators of residential buildings to get fire NOCs renewed, and in some cases issuing notice and warning them of criminal action yielded result. However, the court was of the view that merely issuing notice would not yield results, and strict action including disconnecting water and power as well as sealing the buildings needs to be taken.85% of buildings violated BU normsThe AMC as well as the state government had filed affidavits detailing figures about compliance of the high court order. The Urban Development and Urban Housing department had conducted a survey of the buildings across the state, which revealed that 85% of buildings did not comply with the Building Use permission norms. The court asked them to take corrective steps and file a compliance report. The court also asked the government to take action to install fire safety equipment in schools and colleges for the safety of students.Meanwhile, the AMC has written a letter to the chief metropolitan magistrate in the city to designate a special court to file criminal cases against owners and administrators of erring buildings. The chief justice ensured the proper steps are taken to direct the CMM for establishing designated courts.
AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat high court on Tuesday directed the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) to take concrete action against 26 highrise commercial buildings, including sealing, as they do not possess fire NOC. The high court also ordered the civic body to take action against 1,128 residential buildings and other 259 highrise buildings which are used for commercial and residential purposes. It has given two weeks' time to the authorities with hopes that the civic body would take concrete action against three categories of buildings and come up with a report by June 30. Meanwhile, the HC took notice of the state government's survey of 2,160 buildings in municipalities, out of which 1,833 - 84.86% buildings were found existing in violation of building byelaws, without BU permission. The court has asked the government to find out a solution to this issue in five weeks. tnn The Gujarat high court on Tuesday directed the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) to take concrete action including sealing against 26 high-rise commercial buildings that do not possess fire NOCs as they failed to get their fire prevention systems audited in time. The bench of Chief Justice Aravind Kumar and Justice Ashutosh Shastri ordered the civic body to act against 1,128 residential buildings and 259 other high-rise buildings used for commercial and residential purposes. The court has granted two weeks' time to the authorities with hopes that the civic body would take concrete action against three categories of buildings and come up with a report by June 30. AMC submitted that its filing of criminal complaints has yielded positive results and there was a rush for renewal of fire NOC by defaulters. But the court said, "Mere initiation of criminal prosecution or taking action by initiating a process other than not sealing the premises would not yield immediate results." The court said that AMC has got powers to seal the buildings in the absence of valid fire NOCs. The court further said, "When there are 26 commercial buildings without fire NOCs, it is high time that AMC not only initiates appropriate action to make them obtain fire NOCs but also seals such buildings." The court said that this was required to avoid any untoward incident or risk to the lives of occupants. "It would be most appropriate for the corporation to prevent such incidents rather than repenting after such an incident occurs," the court added while directing the civic body to take stringent action to make the buildings comply with fire safety rules. The petitioner in this case, advocate Amit Panchal, urged the HC for quick action because the issue has been at large before the court in different litigations for the past 22 years. He also alleged that the criminal complaints are being filed against a certain set of people. The AMC informed the HC that of the 10,468 highrises and community buildings, 1,416 were without fire NOCs. It had filed 45 criminal complaints against defaulters till date and urged the HC to direct the chief metropolitan magistrate (CMM) to designate more courts so that the AMC could file complaints against buildings without fire NOCs. The judges said that they would issue necessary instructions while directing the CMM to immediately look into AMC's request for more designated courts. The government also submitted that out of 1,362 government schools across the state, 14 were without fire NOCs and 34 of the 78 government colleges did not comply with fire safety rules. It promised the HC to ensure they adhered to the rule within two months. The chief justice suggested that a huge penalty, 10 times more than what was imposed previously, could be imposed on the defaulters, "but the state has to come up with something", he insisted. The petitioner complained that the state government did not place details about its survey regarding violation of building bylaws in corporation areas.