Rajkot gaming zone fire: Why sack small fish? HC calls for top heads

AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat high court on Thursday expressed dissatisfaction at the action taken by the state govt after the Rajkot fire, saying lower-rung officials have been acted against but no measures were taken against those at the top who were actually responsible.
While hearing the suo motu PIL on the deaths of 27 people at TRP Game Zone in Rajkot, advocate Amit Panchal drew the court's attention to the suspension of lower officers.
The bench of Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal and Justice Pranav Trivedi said, "The officers at the helm of affairs have to be taken to task... the top ones have to go."
When the advocate general pointed to the arrests of nine officials including the Rajkot town planning officer, the CJ said, "Without a fact-finding inquiry as to whether any higher officer was responsible, you are sacking the smaller fish. The big fish who were at the (gaming zone) inauguration, where are they? Why have you not trapped them? Why have you not fixed responsibility on them? They attended that inaugural function and that is a fact. How could they go to the inaugural function of a place not constructed in accordance with the law. They went there, they knew there was a place like this. How can you sit quiet?"
When the lawyer submitted that Rajkot collector, DDO, municipal commissioner and superintendent of police had attended the inauguration of TRP Game Zone, the CJ remarked, "You have given him a licence by your presence at the inauguration, that look I am here, do whatever you want to do..."
On why no action was taken against the Rajkot municipal commissioner, the court made it clear that not a single officer will be spared. The court called for a sense of fear to be driven into wrongdoers.
"Unless you sack one or two (top officers), nothing is going to change. We know this is the hard truth. If you do not sack erring officials, nothing is going to change. If you are sparing a single person, your authority goes," the CJ said.
When the govt tried to defend itself by underscoring the nine arrests, the CJ remarked, "They are not those who are actually responsible. They are the workforce. I want to see the person responsible for ensuring that everything is in order be sacked. Ultimately the head of the institution is responsible for every fault of the institution."
Discussing the "inefficiency" of corporations by pointing out three cases of mass casualties - at the Morbi bridge, Harni lake and in Rajkot - the CJ said the action the govt is taking was corrective not preventive. They are waking up from their slumber.
The CJ told the advocate general, "We as a court and you as a representative of the state should be on the same page to see that those found guilty are not spared. This should be our joint effort...There is inefficiency. There is a problem and it must be fixed. Let the Rajkot incident be a call to see that all guilty are booked."