Provisions remain dead letters in the statute books: High Court on killed Goa club fire

The duo approached the court, pleading that despite several complaints, the authorities had failed to act against the illegal operation of Birch by Romeo Lane.

In its order, a Division Bench of Justices Sarang V Kotwal and Ashish S Chavan said that it was made clear during arguments that the petition referred to the tragedy that had taken place on the intervening night of December 6 and 7 at Arpora. “The petition thus seeks to highlight a much larger issue,” the court observed.

It went on to say that from the arguments, what could be seen is that the problem lies in the construction of illegal structures and the indiscriminate grant of licences.

“Though there are certain provisions under the local laws, where the local bodies can take action, in many cases they are not implemented and the provisions remain dead letters in the statute books. In certain cases where demolition orders are passed by the local bodies, they are stayed by the appellate authorities. Taking advantage of the stay orders, the commercial activities continue in those illegal structures,” the court said.

In some cases, though the structures are illegal, licences are granted for commercial businesses, the court said.

“All this has led to a very serious issue in the state of Goa. It is necessary that the authorities must work together proactively to address these issues rather than shifting the blame on each other. Considering the larger issue involved and its cascading effect on the society, all parties must address these issues in a non-adversarial spirit. At this preliminary stage, we notice that it is necessary to assign accountability to the authorities to prevent recurrence of such unfortunate incidents,” the court said.

It said that although the petition was filed between two parties, it was taking suo motu cognisance of “this very serious issue”. The court said that a suo motu PIL be registered and appointed advocate Rohit Bras de Sa as amicus curiae, directing him to file a separate memo “touching upon all these aspects, which would be exhaustive and covering the entire state of Goa including different local bodies and different adjudicating authorities”.

The court sought a response from the state government in the suo motu PIL, “pointing out what corrective measures can be taken and whether any particular officer/authority can be made accountable for avoiding such tragedies in future”.

According to documents, M/S Being GS Hospitality Goa Arpora LLP, which operates Birch by Romeo Lane and has Saurabh Luthra, Gaurav Luthra and Ajay Gupta as partners, entered into a licence agreement with the property owner, Surinder Kumar Khosla, on November 28, 2023, to lease a property called ‘Cordonicho Agor’ at Sankwadi Arpora measuring 31,200 square metres.

The Arpora-Nagoa village panchayat has come under scrutiny for issuing an establishment (trade) licence dated December 16, 2023, to the company for running “a bar and restaurant-cum-night club”. The trade licence expired in March 2024. The panchayat also issued three no-objection certificates (NOCs) to property owner Khosla — for electrical connection, water connection, and to carry out repair work in the house at Sankwadi.

After complaints by Amonkar and Diukar, the Arpora-Nagoa village panchayat had issued a demolition notice to the property owner. The demolition notice was stayed upon appeal, allowing Birch to operate.

Meanwhile, brothers Saurabh and Gaurav Luthra, owners of Birch by Romeo Lane, are likely to be brought from Thailand to India on Tuesday after the completion of legal formalities. Deportation procedures are currently under process, and Goa police are coordinating with the central agencies for their deportation.