Telangana High Court clears inauguration of Numaish

The Telangana High Court has permitted the inauguration of the Hyderabad Industrial Exhibition on Wednesday.

A two-judge Bench comprising Chief Justice Raghuvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice A Abhishek Reddy asked the GHMC to clear all encroachments in the lanes and bylanes leading to the Exhibition Grounds and ensure free entry and exit for visitors.

The Bench found the safety measures at the Exhibition Grounds are prima facie appropriate. However, it cautioned it would be constrained to stall the exhibition if it finds measures were inappropriate at a later stage.

The Bench directed the appointment of Member of Legal Services Authority to report the number of stalls installed. It also directed the Exhibition Society to ensure that no untoward incident or fire accident took place and to ensure safety equipment installed are functional. It further directed the Society to man all gates with trained experts and keep gates 1, 2 and 3 open all the time.

The Bench was dealing with a writ filed by Khaja Aijazuddin who voiced his concerns on the fire safety measures at the Numaish. Commissioner of Police placed his third counter and reports of various departments including the third party report on the fire safety before the Bench.

The Commissioner also placed the reports of mock trials



conducted earlier in the month. After perusing the third party report, the Bench found the guidelines on distance between stalls, distance from stalls to electric transformers and laying of underground electrical lines are complied.

It also observed that two water sumps with a capacity of 1.5 lakh litres connected to 85 water hydrants around the ground were installed. The report stated, in case of power failure the power shall be restored in 8 seconds time.

However the Bench said not all the guidelines prescribed by the Director General, Disaster Response were inspected. Special Government Pleader Sharath Kumar admitting that the guidelines were not followed precisely stated that over a period of time all the guidelines could be inspected. Speaking for the Bench Chief Justice said: “We are concerned about the safety measures for this year, not for the next year.”

He said the guidelines ware framed after careful consideration of many factors. The guidelines which were framed with a purpose cannot be ignored, he said. Kahaja Aijazuddin said the court that Rs 1.87 crore paid by the Exhibition Society to GHMC does not clear the arrears due to GHMC. The Society said total stalls had been reduced to 1,500 from around 2,000. The Bench adjourned the case to January 6 for further hearing.