Game zone fire: Gujarat HC raps Rajkot civic body, says it doesn't have 'faith in state machinery'

The court pulled up the Rajkot Municipal Corporation and asked whether it had turned a blind eye to such a big structure coming up in its vicinity, after the RMC's lawyer submitted that the TRP game zone had not asked for requisite permissions.

Ahmedabad: The Gujarat High Court on Monday pulled up the Rajkot municipal corporation over the gaming zone fire incident that killed 28 people, while orally observing that 'it does not have faith in the state machinery now' due to repeated incidents.

A special bench of Justices Biren Vaishnav and Devan Desai was hearing a suo motu PIL on the game zone fire incident.

The bench expressed anguish over the fact that for nearly three years, the gaming zone functioned right under the nose of the authorities without permissions. "This gaming zone was functioning and nobody knew about it," the division bench stated.

Additional advocate general Manisha Lavkumar told the bench that the government has acted against those responsible. She said, "The state is committed to the issue with utmost seriousness....measures have been taken to seal all gaming zones. The state has assured that no one will be spared and seven officers have been suspended. Prima facie, the cause of fire were sparks from the welding unit. The inflammable foam there caught fire."

The court also observed that all the Rajkot municipal commissioners, from the time the TRP game zone was set up in 2021 till the time of this incident (on May 25) 'should be held accountable for the tragedy that occurred', and directed them to furnish separate affidavits.

The fire at the TRP game zone in the Nana-Mava locality of Rajkot on Saturday evening killed 27 persons, including children. The game zone was operated without the fire NOC (no objection certificate), as per officials.

Meanwhile, the state government transferred Rajkot municipal commissioner Anand Patel and replaced him with D P Desai, the CEO of Ahmedabad Urban Development Corporation Authority. Similarly, it transferred Rajkot police commissioner Raju Bhargava and posted Brajesh Kumar Jha, the special commissioner of police, sector-2, Ahmedabad.

The transfers came hours after the division bench of the high court issued notices to all officers who served as municipal commissioner of Rajkot from July 2021 till the fire incident to file affidavits explaining what action they took while issuing certificates on its structural stability.

"Without mincing words, we observe that without the connivance of the corporation authorities, police and roads and building department, the gaming zone could not have flourished under the very eyes of police authorities and Rajkot municipality," the bench observed. 

The structure certainly can't be branded as temporary, the bench stated.