The Gujarat High Court, which has taken suo motu cognisance of the amusement and theme park fire at Rajkot on May 25 that led to 33 deaths, was on Monday severely critical of the Rajkot Municipal Corporation authorities, asking them if they had been asleep as they had failed to certify two such structures in the city.
Hearing the suo motu PIL on Monday the court expressed anger when told that two gaming zones had been open for over 24 months each without the required permits, including fire safety certificates.
The court said (after such incidents) it could no longer "trust" the state government, which is ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party.
On the Rajkot gaming zone, the court said, "This has been going on for two-and-a-half years. Are we to assume you turned a blind eye? What do you and your followers do?"
Various media houses reported that the court was also shown photographs of the MC officials at the gaming zone and demanded to know who they were and if they had gone to the gaming zone to play.
Appearing for the state government, advocate Manisha Luv Kumar Shah said there were other gaming zones in Ahmedabad did not have permissions to operate.
A special team had been formed to investigate issues and file a report within 72 hours, Shah said.
The court in a special hearing on Sunday had said the fire was a "Manmade disaster in which innocent lives were lost."
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