Swapnalok fire: High Court notice to CS, dept heads

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Monday issued notices to the Chief Secretary and several senior officials, directing them to file their contentions on the fire mishap at Swapnalok complex in Secunderabad on March 15, in which six persons died.

Other officials who were issued notices were the principal secretary (municipal administration), GHMC commissioner, DGP, city police commissioner, Director General of Fire Services and the Hyderabad collector, The division bench, comprising of Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice N. Tukaramji also issued notice to QNet Vihaan Direct Selling Pvt Ltd and its director, while dealing a suo motu taken up plea on the fire tragedy at Swapnalok. All six who perished in the fire were employees of QNet.

The court  took up the issue suo moto based on a series of reports published
in Deccan Chronicle on this issue and how the commercial complex management and the authorities were not concerned about installing fire safety
measures, despite another fire mishap in 2011.

Taking cognisance of the Deccan Chronicle reports published from March 17 to
19, the High Court converted the reports as a suo motu PIL. The court adjourned the hearing to June 26.

No transit warrants against Mallanna, HC tells police

Justice B. Vijaysen Reddy of Telangana High Court on Monday cautioned Telangana police against executing any prisoner transit (PT) warrant against
Teenmaar Mallanna  (Chinthapandu Naveen), promoter of Q News web channel and a staunch critic of Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao and his family.

The court also directed the police to furnish information on the number of
PT warrants against Mallanna by Monday next. Medipally police had on March
22 arrested Mallanna and four others on charges of abduction of two constables after assaulting them.

Meanwhile, various police stations, in which cases are pending against Mallanna, obtained transit warrants from the local court requesting his custody.

Apprehending that the transit orders would keep her husband in an extended
custody, Martamma, wife of Mallanna, filed a petition seeking a direction to the home secretary and the Director General of Police to direct all police officers working in the state to adhere to the Arnesh Kumar judgment and Satyendra case and refrain from executing PT warrants.

S. Sharat, counsel for Mallanna, informed the court that around 90 FIRs were
registered against his client at the behest of BRS leadership.

Government counsel informed the court that as 50 cases were registered against Mallanna, the police could have obtained the transit warrants to complete the investigation.

The judge observed that registering so many cases against one person on a similar complaint was a violation of fundamental rights.