Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Monday made it clear to the Exhibition Society that it will not allow the Numaish, the annual All India Industrial Exhibition, to go ahead if it does not get all the approvals including from the fire department. The Numaish starts on New Year’s Day.
A fire had ravaged a section of the exhibition last year. It had subsequently emerged that the society was running the show without a fire department clearance. “Until and unless you furnish all the NoCs (no-objection certificates) before this court, we will not permit the Exhibition Society to hold Numaish next year. Even if the government accords permission, this court will not allow the society to hold the exhibition,” said a division bench of Chief Justice Raghavendra Singh Chauhan and Justice A. Abhishek Reddy.
The court was dealing with a PIL filed by advocate Khaja Aijazuddin alleging apathy of the Exhibition Society in taking up safety measures. In the PIL filed after last year’s fire accident, the petitioner had urged the court to take action against the society members and officials of the fire safety department for not taking preventive measures.
This PIL has been heard many times and, on the the last occasion, the court had asked the government about the action it had taken.
Mr S. Sharath, special counsel, said the Hyderabad police commissioner had taken control of the Exhibition Society and DCP, central zone, appointed as nodal officer to supervise the arrangements. He, however, failed to submit the plan of action and the requisite permissions. Respond-ing to this, Chief Justice Chauhan said “Merely making statements won’t suffice, there should be documentary evidence because it involves the lives of innocent traders and people.”
