The Supreme Court in the matter of Ansal Theatres and club hotels Pvt Ltd v/s state allowed the petitioners to move to the trial court for unsealing the Uphaar cinema and get back its custody.
Background–
The Ansal brothers were convicted of negligence in the Uphaar fire tragedy case. In 1997 the Uphaar fire tragedy killed more than 59 people and 103 people were injured it happened due to a change in a sitting arrangement that blocked one of the emergency exits.
The petitioner in their plea of 2010 stated that even after the victims were paid compensation the theatre and its premises were not returned to them.
Last week the court also seeks CBI’s response to the plea.
The Appellant’s contentions-
As far as the main litigation is concerned the former directors of the appellant company seem to have been arrayed as the accused and the curtains are drawn by the final verdict in 2015.
In addition to punishment, the accused were asked to deposit rupees 60 crores and 30 crores each for setting up a trauma centre in Delhi.
The applicant confirmed that 60 crores were deposited in accordance with the court order and approximately 10.5 crores including interest were deposited with Delhi High Court so there cannot be any objection in connection to the de-sealing of property.
Response of the respondent-
Additional solicitor general K M Nataraj appearing for the respondent stated that they ( agencies) don’t have any claim over the property as they are investigating agencies. It was contended that the appropriate forum that can allow the release of the property is the trial court
The court observed-
The court considered the order of the Apex court which had held that it would be inappropriate for the High Court to decide the application on merits and thus ask the trial court to decide if an appropriate application is moved.
On April 20 the apex court ruled in favour of an ex-IPS officer in connection to the Uphaar fire tragedy. The court set aside the magistrate’s order taking cognizance of a complaint against the IPS officer who allegedly did not take action against the extra seats in the Uphaar theater hall which blocked the emergency exit.
The court passed the order considering that necessary sanction under section 197 of the code was not obtained before issuing a summons to him.
Justice K M Joseph, BV Nagarathna and Asanuaddin Amanullah observed that if the appellant makes an application within section 452 of CrPc to the concerned trial court to de-seal the concerned theatre then a decision will be taken by the trial court in accordance with the law.
The court also stated that the decision should be made within 10 weeks with a copy of this order along with the application.
In light of the above observations, the court allowed the Ansal brothers to move to the trial court to seek de sealing of the theatre hall.