Levana Suites fire: HC unhappy with replies filed by Lucknow Development Authority, fire department, state govt

A division bench of Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyay and Justice Saurabh Srivastava directed the Lucknow Development Authority, the fire department and the state government to file proper replies about steps taken to prevent fire incidents in commercial establishments.

The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court (HC) on Thursday expressed its displeasure over replies submitted by the Lucknow Development Authority (LDA), the fire department and the state government regarding steps taken by them to prevent fire incidents like the one at Levana Suites that claimed four lives on September 5.

A division bench of Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyay and Justice Saurabh Srivastava directed the Lucknow Development Authority, the fire department and the state government to file proper replies about steps taken to prevent fire incidents in commercial establishments.

The court is yet to upload the order on its website.

The court also asked the state government to provide a list of the next of kin of those who died in fire incidents in the last years in the state capital and to whom compensation has been paid.

Lucknow Development Authority vice-chairman Indramani Tripathi was also present during the hearing.

The court listed the case for next hearing on December 7.

On September 9, the high court took suo motu cognizance of the Levana Suites fire incident.