Mumbai: HC orders Rs 50 lakh to kin of each of eight people killed

After fighting a decadelong legal battle the families of eight youngsters who lost their lives in a fire at Hotel City Kinara in Kurla finally got justice as the Bombay High Court has directed the BMC to pay Rs 50 lakh to each victimrsquos family as compensation within 12 weeks failing which nine per cent annual interest will be appliedA gutted Kurlarsquos Hotel City Kinara on October 17 2015 a day after the blaze broke out in the eatery File picQuashing and setting aside an order given by the Lokayukta the Bombay High Court mentioned that the BMC can recover the compensation amount from those who will be eventually held responsible for the accidentCivic bodyrsquos culpabilityDespite several complaints being made regarding the improper storage of the gas cylinders and other matters residents had claimed that no action was taken One Martin Mathews had filed a complaint on September 4 2012 Acting on it a routine inspection was conducted on September 13 2012 by the medical officer of health and it was found that the eatery located opposite Kohinoor Mall was flouting various normsFrom left Sharjeel Shaikh Bryan Fernando Sajid Chowdhari and Akash Thapar died as did Taha Shaikh and Arvind Kanojia not in picNo letter from the chief fire officer granting permission to run the restaurant was produced at the time of the inspection It was also found that the restaurant was using extra space outside the licensed premises for the preparation of food However despite this the owner of the eatery Sudesha Mahabal Hegade and lsquoconductorrsquo Sharad Ramapati Tripathi were directed to rectify the infringements and were cautioned that failing this the BMC would take action under Section 394 of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act 1888 However after this even when residents repeatedly informed the authorities that no rectifications had been made their applications fell on deaf earsThe caseAfter the incident occurred on October 16 2015 the Lokayukta on August 20 2016 dismissed the case stating that a minimal compensation of R1 lakh be given to each family by the Kurla tehsildarrsquos office and ordered that a thorough investigation be conductedBMM students Bernadette and Irwin DrsquoSouza who lost their lives in the fireDissatisfied with the judgment the parents of the deceased filed a writ petition in the Bombay High Court on January 12 2018 seeking justice and accountability from the corporation ldquoAfter 18 months the matter was taken up by the court on August 20 2019 and it was decided that it would be heard directly at the admission stage However the matter was again postponed several times during the pandemic due to various reasons Finally it was again taken up by the court on February 27 2025 and on March 6 this year the actual hearing began with the final verdict pronounced on June 10rdquo said Jayesh Mestry who represents the families of the deceasedMestry stated that the criminal case against the restaurantrsquos owner and conductor is still being heard by the sessions court ldquoThe owner has filed a discharge application which is still pending with the court Thus though a charge sheet has been filed by the police charges havenrsquot been applied yetrdquo he addedFamilies reactBereaved relatives of the deceased have hailed the high courtrsquos verdict saying though delayed justice has been served Rekha Thapar mother of Akash Thapar one of the victims said ldquoWe have cried every day since the incident and not a single day has passed without the mention of my son He was my only son and he lost his life for no fault of his own Today he would have been working in a big firm and establishing himself Nevertheless now we are hopeful that the judicial system will ensure that the culprits are soon brought to justice and we are waiting to see them behind bars That is the day when we will consider that justice has finally been servedrdquoJacinta DrsquoSouza mother of victim Bernadette DrsquoSouzaJacinta DrsquoSouza mother of BMM student Bernadette DrsquoSouza opening up about her ordeal said ldquoIn 2013 I lost my husband and I hadnrsquot even come out of that trauma completely when this tragedy happened Though the owner of the eatery must be punished for playing with the lives of so many the BMC must be held equally responsible for not taking stringent action against the owner and allowing him to continue functioning despite several complaints being made Though very late we have gotten justice but the blame game being played by those responsible must stop and the culprit must be punished at the earliestrdquoNorms flouted by Kurla eaterygtgt No licence had been granted to Kinara in respect of its verandagtgt Copies of the police and the chief fire officerrsquos NOC were not availablegtgt No information was available regarding where and how many gas cylinders were storedgtgt No information was available regarding the water tanksgtgt No licence had been granted in respect of a bathroom