Legal intervention exposes repated apathy

New Delhi: The recurring violation of fire safety norms is a disturbing feature that Delhi High Court has highlighted repeatedly.Months before the devastating fire at a bed and breakfast on Wednesday, the court had directed the city authorities to urgently address the matter of inadequate fire safety measures in hotels, restaurants and other hospitality establishments across the capital. What is painfully familiar is the apathy, as the authorities too are yet to comply with the court's Jan 7 order, which required them to formulate an action plan to strengthen safety standards.The high court had asked Delhi govt, MCD and NDMC to treat a PIL by lawyer Arpit Bhargava as a representation and take an appropriate decision.On Wednesday, Bhargava said that he had sent repeated reminders to the Delhi chief secretary, MCD commissioner and NDMC chairperson to comply with the order, but to no avail. He filed the PIL after 25 people were killed in a nightclub blaze in Goa on Dec 6, 2025. He alleged that several establishments in Delhi rampantly violated fire safety rules. Over the past few years, the court has taken a strong view on fire safety violations and demanded accountability. In Aug last year, the court cleared the decks for prosecution of the owners of a building in Sadar Bazar’s Anaj Mandi where a devastating fire in Dec 2019 claimed 45 lives, most of them migrant labourers. In a strongly-worded order, Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma had upheld the framing of charges against Mohd Imran, noting his “active participation” in maintaining and profiting from an unauthorised, dangerously constructed premises, despite earlier warnings and a prior fire incident.The court highlighted that the building had elements of unauthorised construction, lacked mandatory fire safety clearances, proper ventilation or any emergency exit provisions. Around the same time, another high court bench took note of the tragic fire at Vishal Mega Mart in Delhi’s Karol Bagh that claimed two lives. An NGO, Kutumb, sought a court-monitored investigation into alleged lapses and flagged serious violations of fire safety regulations.The NGO sought the court-monitored probe into the conduct of MCD, fire services and Delhi Police for alleged regulatory failures. The matter is listed for July.A fire in the neo natal unit of Baby Care New Born Hospital in Vivek Vihar in 2024 had forced the high court to direct Delhi govt to regard as a representation a PIL that sought basic fire safety norms, including the installation of sprinklers, for small hospitals and nursing homes. The blaze killed seven newborns. The PIL was filed by Yugansh Mittal. The court had at that time disposed of the matter, while asking the authorities to ensure compliance with fire safety norms under the Delhi Fire Service Rules, 2010.In 2018, a massive fire in a factory in Malviya Nagar had led the high court to pass orders that should set a precedent. The court had then asked the owner of a rubber factory to cough up Rs 25 lakh to bear the cost of dousing the blaze. The court took the step after it came to know that the entire operation to control the raging fire that lasted several hours cost over Rs 30 lakh with even the Indian Air Force incurring an expenditure for deploying a helicopter.