2006 Meerut Fire Tragedy : Supreme Court Fixes Liability 40:60 Liability On State & Organizers To Compensate Victims

The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Allahabad High Court Chief Justice to nominate within two weeks a District Judge or Additional District Judge to work on a day to day basis for determining the compensation payable to the families of the victims of the fire that broke out during a consumer fair in Meerut in 2006. The bench of Justices Hemant Gupta and V Ramasubramanian also noted that since the amount of compensation payable to each of the victim including the families of the deceased had not been computed, the same required computation in accordance with the principles of just compensation as in the case of accident under the Motor Vehicle Act, 1988 by the Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal. However the Court took note of the fact that,"The State has paid Rs.2 lakhs each as ex-gratia compensation to the families of the deceased, Rs.1 lakh each for the persons who suffered serious injuries and Rs.50,000/- each for the persons suffering from minor injuries whereas the Union of India has paid ex-gratia compensation of Rs.1 lakh each for the deceased and Rs.50,000/- each for those with serious injuries. In terms of the order of this Court, the State has paid Rs.5 lakhs each to the deceased, Rs.2 lakhs each to the victims suffering serious injuries and Rs. 75,000/- each to the victims suffering minor injuries, apart from the amount paid by the Union of India." The Top Court also asked the High Court to provide all necessary infrastructure to enable the Officer to discharge his duties. The bench also granted nominated Judicial Officer liberty to permit the parties to lead such evidence as may be permissible and to submit the report to this Court for consideration in respect of compensation in accordance with law. "The victims or their families visited the exhibition on the invitation of the Organizers and not that of the Contractor. The Organizers were supposed to make arrangements for putting up the exhibition hall, providing electricity and water and also the food stalls for the facility of the victims/visitors. They cannot now take shelter on the ground that the Contractor who was given work order on 9.3.2006 was an independent contractor and the victims should seek remedy from him. As observed earlier, the contractor has worked for the Organizers and not for the victims. Hence, the Organizers alone are responsible to protect the life and liberty of the victims," the Court further observed. The bench issued the directions and rendered the observations while considering a writ petition preferred by the victims of the fire tragedy which occurred on 10.4.2006 at about 5:40 p.m., the last day of the India Brand Consumer Show organized at Victoria Park, Meerut, Uttar Pradesh. The tragedy claimed the lives of 65 persons and left 161 or more with burn injuries. On June 2, 2006, the State of Uttar Pradesh had appointed Hon'ble Mr. Justice O.P. Garg (Retired) in terms of provisions of the Commission of Inquiry Act, 1952 with the following terms of reference:"(1) To find out the facts, causes on account of which the aforesaid accident occurred;(2) To decide the ways and means to keep up the situation in control;(3) In respect of the aforesaid occurrence, determination of liability and the extent thereof;(4) Measures to be adopted to avoid the occurrence of such an incident in future." The Commission submitted its report on June 5, 2007 but was found to be unsustainable by the Top Court on July 31, 2014. While rejecting the proceedings conducted by the Commission under the Inquiry Act, the Court appointed Hon'ble Mr. Justice S.B. Sinha (Retired) as a one-man Commission as it was found that the Organizers were summoned after examination of almost 45 witnesses and were not afforded the opportunity of cross-examination. Pursuant to submission of the report by the Committee on June 29, 2015, wherein the Commission determined the liability of the State and the organizers as 40% and 60% respectively, an amount of Rs.30 lakhs deposited by the Organizers in terms of the order dated July 31, 2014. The same was sent to the District Judge, Meerut for pro-rata distribution amongst the victims. Submission Of Counsels Appearing for the organizers, Senior Advocate Shanti Bhushan while raising preliminary objection about the Top Court entertaining the petition in respect of private law liability had contended that such liability did not fall within the scope of Article 32 of the Constitution. To support his contention, counsel referred to the judgements in Nilabati Behera (Smt.) alias Lalita Behera v. State of Orissa & Ors. (1993) 2 SCC 746, Sube Singh v. State of Haryana & Ors. (2006) 3 SCC 178, Shri Sohan Lal v. Union of India & Anr. AIR 1957 SC 529, Radhey Shyam & Anr. v. Chhabi Nath & Ors. (2009) 5 SCC 616, Radhey Shyam & Anr. v. Chhabi Nath & Ors. (2015) 5 SCC 423, Praga Tools Corporation v. Shri C.A. Imanual & Ors. (1969) 1 SCC 585...

2006 Meerut Fire Tragedy : Supreme Court Fixes Liability 40:60 Liability On State & Organizers To Compensate Victims

Shruti Kakkar

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