A green bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday sought an enquiry report of the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) Plaza fire from the Punjab Advocate General by July 11.
Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah passed the order on petitions filed by Shoaib Saleem and Noshab Ali Khan, calling for action against LDA officials for inadequate fire safety facilities in the plaza.
The judge also directed the petitioners to suggest a name for the Fire Safety Commission chairmanship after expressing reservations about the Rescue 1122 director general serving as the commission’s head.
As proceedings started, the petitioner’s counsel Noshab A Khan referred to a letter from the Lahore District Coordination Officer (DCO) Naseem Sadiq to the Punjab chief minister regarding investigations of a small fire on the LDA plaza’s seventh floor on June 29, which confirmed apprehensions that the earlier fire incident had been a conspiracy to destroy important records.
He pleaded that the court order an independent enquiry into the LDA plaza fire incident, in response to which the bench observed that Fire Safety Commission could be charged with the task.
However, the petitioner-counsel expressed reservations and said that the LDA plaza fire was not only a failure of the LDA but also of Rescue 1122 as it did not have proper equipment to deal with the incident.
He mentioned that Rescue DG Rizwan Naseer was heading the Fire Safety Commission and thus, an independent enquiry was not possible.
The court was further informed that the interim government conducted an enquiry into the fire but it was not placed on record.
After hearing the arguments, the court ordered the Punjab advocate general to submit a report by July 11.
Moreover, Noshab A Khan pleaded in his petition that criminal proceedings should be initiated against the present and former LDA director general due to the loss of precious lives and billions of rupees in the LDA inferno.
He also hoped that the court would order the Rescue 1122 director general to equip his teams with the necessary instruments for combating such incidents without fail. He also asked for orders to remove antennas and towers from high rise buildings.
Advocate Shoaib Saleem argued in his petition that in light of the recent fires in the city and the glaring short falls of the fire safety management, a commission to counter this had become necessary.
The court also constituted a 20-member Fire Safety Commission to address and identify fire safety issues in the provincial capital.
