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Kolkata: Calcutta High Court on Wednesday set aside the fire department order directing All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) to vacate Camac Street premises for non-compliance with fire safety norms, observing that AITC is “ready and willing to comply with all the requirements” while also noting that the authority passed the order without considering Trinamool’s reply.
But the single judge clarified that Trinamool’s Sept 3 reply to the fire safety department’s Sept 1 notice should be reconsidered. The crux of the petition was the Sept 4 order by the director-in charge of West Bengal Fire and Emergency Services. It directed Trinamool to vacate the sixth and seventh floors of premises 9, Abanindranath Tagore Sarani (Camac Street) for “non-maintenance and inadequacy of the required fire safety measures. Advocate General Surojit Nath Mitra argued that in a Sept 3 reply by Trinamool, it shifted blame to the building owner. It was submitted that Trinamool’s fire safety certificate had expired on Aug 10. The building owners claimed that the lease deed was cancelled on Aug 20. The fire department conducted an inspection on Sept 1 and directed them to vacate. The judge noted that on Sept 3, Trinamool gave a detailed reply and also offered to rectify all the issues.
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If after notice it fails to comply, the department can then take “appropriate” action. “The sixth floor has 60 fire sprinklers and 15 smoke detectors while the seventh floor has 45 fire sprinklers and 15 smoke detectors,” senior advocate Kishore Datta submitted while listing multiple compliances by Trinamool. The single bench of Justice Krishna Rao directed the fire safety department to give notice and inspect the two floors again. After the inspection, it will draw up a list of issues that are still present in the property, and the party will be informed of such issues. After giving an opportunity to Trinamool Congress to rectify those issues, a further inspection would be done by the department. It was stated that it was the occupier’s duty to maintain the fire prevention and fire safety measures in good repair and in efficient condition but in the present case, the party failed to maintain the same. Meanwhile, the counsel for the building owner submitted that she was not liable “for any acts, omission, unauthorized alteration, storage practices or operational arrangement undertaken by the lessee. He submitted that under the agreement between the party and the owner, the responsibility for ensuring fire safety compliance was that of the owner. “What is interesting is that from the basement to the fifth floor there is no hazard; the entire hazard is on the sixth and seventh floor? Datta questioned. Download the TOI App.