By IANS
New Delhi : The Delhi High Court Thursday directed the district magistrate to carry out the trial of the 1997 fire tragedy in Uphaar cinema expeditiously by Aug 31 without allowing the counsel of the accused to seek further adjournment.
After consulting the counsel from both prosecution and defence, it was decided that 40 more working days might be required for recording of statements.
"Taking into account the time estimate given by the counsel themselves, the trial is required to be completed on or before Aug 31," said a division bench of Justice Mukul Mudgal and Justice P.K. Bhasin while disposing of the application.
The court said the trial of the case was going on at a snail's pace contrary to the direction of the court on April 4, 2002 to complete the trial by Dec 15, 2002.
"The application has averred that the adjournment have been sought on behalf of the accused on several occasions and have been granted by the sub-ordinate judge merely on asking contrary to the mandate of the court," it observed.
The relatives of the fire tragedy victims pursuing a criminal case against the theatre owners, Ansal brothers, Friday had moved the high court for an expeditious trial of the case by a subordinate court.
The Association of Victims of Uphaar Tragedy (AVUT) pleaded before the bench to direct the subordinate court to dispose the trial in a time-bound manner as per a high court order five years ago.
Alleging that the accused were adopting delaying tactics to prolong the trial, the AVUT counsel pleaded for cancellation of the bail of theatre owners Sushil Ansal and Gopal Ansal till the completion of the trial.
Counsel said their bail should be cancelled on the ground that they were tempering with evidence.
The Uphaar cinema in Green Park in south delhi, while screening Hindi film "Border", had caught fire, killing 59 people inside on June 13, 1997.
The trial court had framed charges against 16 accused, including the Ansal brothers for their alleged role in the tragedy.
The other accused in the case include Public Works Department engineer S.N. Dandona, cinema hall director R.M. Puri, its managers K.L. Malhotra, R.K. Sharma, N.S. Chopra and Ajit Chaudhary, erstwhile Delhi Vidyut Board official A.K. Gera, B.M. Satija and Beer Singh, Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) officials N.D. Tiwari and Shyam Sunder Sharma, Delhi Fire Service officials H.S. Panwar and Surinder Dutt, besides hall's balcony attendant Manmohan Unniyal.