HC lashes out at Hauz Khas eateries for violating norms

Will the clearance certificates extinguish fire, an anguished bench of the Delhi High Court on Monday asked the owners of the Hauz Khas village eateries here allegedly running in violation of building bye-laws and the master plan.

A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar said that "people have turned blind and to earn profit out of their business, they are doing whatever they want to do"."Don't you (owners of the Hauz Khas village eateries) have any responsibility towards the city you live in and its citizens. Is it not your responsibility to ensure safety of the people," the bench asked.It also asked the eateries who had permitted them to run commercial activities in rural area like Hauz Khas."Mere permission from the authorities concerned, with regard to the fire clearance and other licences to run an eatery, will not save the life of the people visiting there."You will have to ensure compliance of building bye-laws as per master plan including parking and other facilities," the bench said, adding that the roads there are so choked that not even a fire tender can reach the spot during need.

The court made the oral observation when an owner of Hauz Khas village eatery approached it for urgent listing of a petition against the south Delhi municipal corporation order to shut down the restaurant. The corporation had issued them notice on the ground that they were operating without any building plan approval or no objection certificate (NOC) from the authorities, including the fire department. Earlier, during the hearing of a plea, the court was told
that not a single eatery in south Delhi's popular Hauz Khas Village appeared to have fire safety clearance.

The bench had made the observation as the fire department had not disclosed in its affidavit whether it had received any reference from the police or the civic bodies for fire safety certification to any eatery in the area.