NE LEGAL BUREAU
AHMEDABAD, JUNE 9
More than 46 percent buildings in Ahmedabad city don’t have a valid fire safety NOC, the city’s civic body informed the Gujarat High Court on Wednesday.
Hospitals, schools, residential and residential-cum-commercial units, malls, multiplexes, theatres, require a fire safety NOC from local authorities after meeting compliance with the norms set for the same.
In an affidavit filed in the court of Justices Bela Trivedi and Bhargav D Karia, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) said out of 10,329 such buildings, 4,784 or 46.3 percent, are without a valid fire safety NOC, with several structures not having gotten them renewed as required.
Of 1,852 hospitals and clinics in the city, 374 have no fire safety NOC, which needs to be obtained from the competent authorities after meeting the norms laid down for the fire safety system, it was stated.
As per the affidavit, of 2,425 schools, 1,353 have no valid fire safety NOC, while 1,876 out of 3,165 residential buildings, 663 out of 1,344 residential-cum-commercial, and 443 out of 1,268 commercial structures have no fire safety NOC.
The AMC further stated that 500 out of 1,353 schools that don’t have fire safety NOCs will only need to self-certify as per the government’s latest circular that exempts schools in buildings of up to the height of 9 metres from approaching the local authorities for the NOC.
Meanwhile, the civic body of Rajkot city said 244 out of 268 hospitals and clinics don’t have a valid fire safety NOC.
The submissions were made in a PIL on fire safety issue filed by advocate Amit Panchal, which will come up for hearing on June 11.
