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A Supreme Court bench of Justices Hement Gupta and Ramasubramanian  reserved for judgment, a case filed by kin of the victims of 2006 Meerut fire tragedy. The case has been reserved for judgement after 16 years.

It is to be noted that two one man commissions were appointed during the span of the hearing. State of Uttar Pradesh appointed Justice (retired) OP Garg as a one man commission to investigate into the tragedy. He was however replaced with Justice (retired) SB Sinha in 2014 by the Supreme Court.

Shanti Bhushan, Sr. Adv and former Law Minister continuing his arguments today, submitted that there was no concrete evidence to establish how the fire started and liability cannot be pinned on the event managers under these circumstances.

Representing Mrinal Event Managing Company, Bhushan argued against any liability on the company. 

Referring to the order passed by the Supreme Court directing the event organisers to deposit a sum of Rs.30 lakhs, he said,
“How much will they have to suffer? They have already suffered enough.”

Justice Hemant Gupta at this point interjected Bhushan and questioned,
“What about the suffering of those who perished in the fire?”

To which Bhushan chose not to answer. It was further argued that only the event managers were imprisoned and no other persons were held responsible or imprisoned for the incident.

Bhushan argued that the findings of the Justice SB Sinha committee are not binding on the court as it was not a judicial committee but a State appointed committee. He further argued that Supreme Court by an order dated 31st July 2014 merely substituted the name of Justice Sinha in the place of Justice Garg, who was appointed by the State.

Bhushan further submitted that in the letter engaging the event managers there was no clause for liability in case of fire accidents. He furthermore argued on how the findings of Justice Sinha committee are flawed.

Vikas Pahwa, Sr.Adv, appeared for the petitioners and defended the findings of the committee while Garima Prashad, AAG of Uttar Pradesh made her submissions on the outcome of the state’s investigation.

The Meerut fire tragedy happened on the 10th of April, 2006, the last day of the India Brand Consumer Show organised by Mrinal Events and Expositions at Victoria Park. According to sources a short circuit caused a fire in the venue which killed 60 people. According to media reports the fire spread through a consumer fair in Victoria Park in and at the time, of the fire nearly 2000 people were at the venue. The incident also lead to stampede-like situation. Media reports further claim that despite being booked by the local police, the event organisers absconded and never appeared before the trial court.

The present plea was filed in 2006 by a person named Sanjay Gupta who had lost five members of his family in the event. The plea was filed on the ground that the investigation into the tragedy was not conducted properly by the State. The then Uttar Pradesh government had appointed a one man commission consisting of Justice (retired) OP Garg of Allahabad High Court. However the findings of the report were contested by the organisers on the ground that they were not heard.

The Supreme Court by an order dated 31st July 2014 appointed Justice (retired) SB Sinha as the one man commission to inquire into the matter. By the same order the court had directed the State to pay Rs.5 lakhs each to the legal representatives of the deceased and the Rs.2 lakhs each to those who were seriously injured and the Rs.75,000/- to those who suffered minor injuries.

The court on hearing the parties reserved the case for judgments after 16 years and permitted the parties to file short written submissions.

Bhushan had yesterday argued that the victims have already been paid enough compensation and said “How much more do they want?”

Case title: Sanjay Gupta Vs State of Uttar Pradesh