Above: A building up in flames after a fire broke out (representative image)/Photo: UNI    

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday (July 3) expressed displeasure over the non-submission of status reports by South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) and Delhi Police on the money incurred while dousing the fire which broke out in South Delhi’s Malviya Nagar on May 29.

The bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar further told SDMC and Delhi Police to file status report before the next date of hearing.

The bench had taken the suo motu cognizance of the Malviya Nagar incident in which a fire broke out in a rubber godown and spread to 40 odd properties incurring a huge monetary loss.

On the earlier hearings, the court had lambasted SDMC saying that the expenses which were incurred for dousing the fire must be borne by the negligent officials of SDMC and time has come to “fix not just criminal liability but also monetary responsibility”.

It had also directed the Delhi Fire Service Chief, Delhi Police and Indian Air Force to give a breakup of the money incurred by them in the fire-fighting exercise.

—India Legal Bureau