SC notice to UP Govt, others

New Delhi, Aug 7 (UNI)The Supreme Court today issued notices to the state of Uttar Pradesh and CBI on a petition seeking CBI inquiry into the Meerut Fair fire tragedy in which scores of people were charred to death and hundreds were injured on April 10, 2006.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Y.K. Sabharwal and Mr. Justice C.K. Thakker issued notices on a petition filed by one Sanjay Gupta who had lost five of his family members in the incident after hearing his counsel who pleaded that the administration had demonstrated utterly callous attitude and even the dead bodies of the victims were allegedly bulldozed at the instance of the top officials of the district administration including the then District Magistrate.

The petitioner also alleged that even the amount of the compensation announced by the state chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav had not been given to the victims till date and no case had been registered against any of the top district officials who granted permission to the organisers of the fair in gross violation of the safety norms as there were no fire extinguishers in the fair and no fire fighting equipment was there and entire area of the annual fair was engulfed by the raging fire.

The dead bodies were bulldozed just to bring down the officials figures of the deaths in the incident.

The organisers were allowed to hold the fair even without obtaining certificate from the district chief fire officer which is mandatory.

The petitioner has sought investigation in the case by an independent investigating agency to ensure free and fair investigation in the incident to bring the culprits to book including top district officials including the then DM and SSP. More than 50 lives were lost in the incident. No senior political leader of the state cared to visit the site of the occurrence. The petitioner has also contended that he wants to ensure that such incidents do not occur in future and some guidelines are also laid down by this court as monetary compensation can not be substitute for the loss of the family members and friends.

UNI AKS/SC RP ND1852