Heat in the Boardroom. Times are changing. Laws are changing. Time for a serious rethink. The next milestone in disaster jurisprudence was the judgment in the Dabwali fire tragedy in 2001. More than 400 people, mostly schoolchildren, were charred to death when a fire broke out in an overcrowded hall when festivities were in full swing. The judgment, which was delivered by the Punjab and Haryana High Court, fixed liability on the school management and on the halls owners. The principles laid down in that judgment were applied by the Supreme Court last week in its 330-page judgment in the Uphaar cinema case, in which an inferno killed 60 people in Delhi 16 years ago. Criminal liability of executives and directors has been discussed often in the context of bouncing cheques or fraudulent transactions. However, this judgment is a landmark in that it carries forward the law of criminal negligence and punishment. Unlike the Bhopal litigation, which let the suspects flee the country by night or be charged under diluted provisions of the criminal codes, the Uphaar judgment nails the honchos and awards them jail sentences. The significance of the Uphaar judgment lies in its broad sweep of culpability: it covers not only owners of the property but also its occupiers. A large corporation is usually an umbrella for several companies engaged in various business activities. The directors and shareholdings change conveniently in the interwoven companies, which makes it difficult to pin down the persons actually in charge of an establishment when a particular incident occurs. In this case, for instance, it has large interests in real estate, apart from education and entertainment (the latter is looked after by Ansal Theatres and Clubotels Pvt Ltd).
Posted on: Wed, 12 Mar 2014 17:23:25 +0000