Lucknow, Jul 2 The Allahabad High Court on Thursday sought responses from the Uttar Pradesh government, the Lucknow Development Authority (LDA) and the state power corporation on last month's Aliganj fire incident that killed 15 people and directed the authorities to place on record a standard operating procedure (SOP) to prevent such incidents in future.
A division bench in Lucknow comprising justices Rajan Roy and Manjeev Shukla passed the order on a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Shivendu Pandey. The matter has been listed for further hearing on August 4.
The fire had broken out in a multi-storey building in Lucknow's Aliganj area on June 22, triggering a major firefighting operation and raising concerns over fire safety measures, emergency response and adherence to building safety norms.
In his plea, the petitioner sought an independent and time-bound probe into the incident and requested that the inquiry be monitored by a committee constituted by the high court to ensure fairness and transparency.
The PIL has arrayed the Union government, the Uttar Pradesh government, the chief fire officer, the Lucknow Municipal Corporation, the LDA and other authorities concerned as respondents.
