Judicial probe into Kamala Mills fire not needed: BMC

Mumbai: Clearing its stand before the Bombay high court, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Thursday said there is no need to appoint any independent judicial commission to probe the Kamala Mills fire in which killed fourteen lives were lost in December last year. 

BMC counsel Anil Sakhare told the high court that the fire department had already submitted a detailed report and the civic body is also probing the incident in depth.

He also told the court that the civic body has already appointed a four-member committee, which also has the BMC’s chief engineer as a member, that is probing the fire. This committee will file its report before the municipal commissioner within three months.

The court was also informed that criminal prosecution had been initiated against 13 persons and a departmental inquiry had been initiated against officials found to be negligent towards their duties; however, this inquiry is at a premature stage and hence the court should not form any judicial commission of inquiry into the incident, he said.

Following this statement, the division bench of Justice R.M. Borde and Justice R.G. Ketkar asked the state about its stand on the court forming a judicial commission. To this, advocate Purnima Kantharia, the counsel for the state, sought time from the bench to take instructions from the state and file a reply. The bench granted her time and now the bench is expected to issue directions on the same on Friday.

The bench was hearing PIL filed by former police commissioner Julio Ribeiro through advocate Sujay Kantawala, Ashish Mehta and Brijesh Pathak seeking a judicial inquiry into the incident.