Sindh High Court Chief Justice Zafar Ahmed Rajput has nominated Justice Agha Faisal as a single-member commission to probe causes of fire incident at the Gul Plaza shopping centre for the period to be fixed and notified by the Sindh government.
The nomination came on a request of the provincial government along with terms of reference sent to the SHC chief justice. Chief Justice Rajput, keeping in view of provisions of Section 3 of the Sindh Tribunals of Inquiry Ordinance 1969, has nominated Justice Agha Faisal as single member commission.
Following approval of the chief justice, the home department issued a notification with regard to the appointment of Justice Agha Faisal as a single-member commission of inquiry to probe the Gul Plaza fire, which erupted on January 17 and claimed the lives of at least 79 people, including shopkeepers.
Under the terms of reference, the inquiry commission shall examine if the building approvals and lease extensions by the Sindh Building Control Authority, its predecessor organisations and Karachi Metropolitan Corporation were in accordance with applicable laws, rules and regulations. The commission will assess if the construction of Gul Plaza was in violation of the approved building plan leading to difficulty in evacuation of people.
It will also assess arrangements in place at the Gul Plaza building for fire prevention, detection and firefighting by the building management as required under applicable laws and safety regulations. The commission will assess if the building management or any government department/agency had carried out fire safety audits and whether the recommendations were implemented by the building management.
It will also ascertain the causes and circumstances leading to the fire incident. The inquiry commission will examine and evaluate rescue operations for adequacy and swiftness and fix responsibility for any acts of commission or omission committed prior to and subsequent to the incident.
The commission will complete the inquiry within eight weeks. The SHC’s CJ had earlier directed the home department to submit terms of reference for the constitution of a commission on the Gul Plaza fire tragedy.
The home department had submitted that the sub-committee of the cabinet considered the matter and decided that in order to ensure transparency, accountability and institutional learning, the SHC CJ be requested to nominate a sitting judge of the court to conduct a judicial inquiry into the Gul Plaza incident to ascertain responsibility and regulatory lapses.
At least 79 people lost their lives while 1,100 shops were gutted in the fire. Opposition parties, including the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and the Jamaat-e-Islam, had rejected the initial findings of the fire cause and demanded a judicial inquiry by a judge of the high court.
