Maharashtra government tell High Court new fire safety norms to be ready by May 2024

The Maharashtra government has told the Bombay High Court that it will notify the new fire safety regulations by May 20, 2024. The government assured that it would complete the necessary formalities, including obtaining the Chief Minister’s approval and publishing the notification, before the specified date.

A bench of Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya and Justice Arif Doctor, scrutinising the timeline, expressed dissatisfaction with the government’s delay. The bench emphasised that the government should have immediately published the recommendations and invited objections and suggestions after receiving them in February.

Additional Government Pleader Jyoti Chavan explained that a meeting was held on December 4 to work out the procedure. However, petitioner and advocate Abha Singh noted that the meeting took place on December 4 because the petition hearing was scheduled for December 6.

The bench remarked that if the government had acted promptly on the committee’s recommendations, the regulations would have been published by now. Chavan assured the court that the Principal Secretary of the Urban Development Department would personally oversee the process and ensure it is completed well before the deadline.

Acknowledging the constraints on reducing the duration, the bench recorded the assurance in its order, expressing hope that the government would adhere to the timeline. The Chief Justice commented on the prevalence of short circuits as a major cause of fires and enquired about the department responsible for electrical safety. Chavan indicated that the city fire brigade, under the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), oversees electrical safety.

The bench directed Singh to include BMC as a party and instructed the Fire Brigade to provide specific details, including their average response time and the manpower required in each fire station. The court will reconvene on January 30 to further hear the Public Interest Litigation filed by Singh, seeking directions for the issuance of the final notification on ‘Special Regulations for Buildings Vulnerable to Man-Made Disasters.’

In a previous hearing, the bench criticised the state’s lackadaisical approach to the matter.

Singh initiated the litigation in 2019, seeking the enforcement of draft rules and regulations for fire safety issued in 2009 after the 26/11 terror attack in Mumbai.