The Calcutta High Court has quashed an order directing the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) to vacate the sixth and seventh floors of its office at Camac Street, Kolkata, on grounds that the impugned order was passed without considering the party’s reply to a fire safety notice and without conducting a fresh inspection thereafter.
The Court was hearing a writ petition filed by TMC challenging the evacuation order dated September 4, 2026, issued by the Director-in-Charge of the West Bengal Fire and Emergency Services. The order had directed the party to vacate the premises at 9, Abanindranath Tagore Sarani, Camac Street, citing violations of fire safety norms including non-maintenance of required fire safety measures, construction of a mild steel structure encroaching on the driveway, storage of LPG cylinders on the seventh floor, improper pump sequencing, absence of firefighting water in the riser system, only one entry/exit point, and inadequate fire alarm and detection systems.
The authorities had, in a notice dated September 1, 2026, alleged that no valid renewed Fire Safety Certificate was found during inspection. TMC submitted its reply on September 3, 2026, stating that the encroaching structure had been removed and the driveway cleared, that LPG cylinders had been removed from the seventh floor, and that the butterfly valve of the riser system had been kept non-operational during maintenance, which explained the inadequate pressure observed during inspection. The party further stated that the firefighting system was otherwise functional during emergencies, that there were two entry/exit points from the office to the internal corridor on the seventh floor, and that approximately 60 fire sprinklers and 15 smoke detectors were present on the sixth floor, with 45 sprinklers and 15 detectors on the seventh floor. TMC affirmed its willingness to cooperate and comply with all fire safety requirements.
Justice Krishna Rao observed that the impugned order was passed on September 4, 2026, the very next day after TMC’s reply was submitted on September 3. The Court held that the respondent authority had not considered the reply submitted by the petitioner before passing the evacuation order. “In the impugned order, the respondent no. 4 has not dealt with the reply submitted by the petitioner to the hearing notice dated 1st September, 2026,” the Court noted.
The Court further found that no fresh inspection was conducted after receiving TMC’s reply to verify whether the deficiencies pointed out in the September 1 notice had been rectified. “This Court finds that the respondent no. 4 without considering the reply submitted by the petitioner and without carrying out any inspection after the reply submitted by the petitioner, has passed the impugned order,” Justice Rao held.
The Court also rejected the State’s objection that the writ petition was not maintainable due to the availability of an appeal under the West Bengal Fire Services Act, 1950. The Advocate General had contended that Section 11-I of the Act and Rule 24 of the West Bengal Fire Services (Fire Prevention and Fire Safety) Rules, 2003, provided a right of appeal against the impugned order. The High Court, however, held that Section 11-I applies only to orders passed under Chapter IIIA of the Act, whereas the impugned order was issued under Section 37A, which falls under Chapter VI. It further held that Section 38, which provides for appeals against orders under Sections 35, 36, or 37, does not extend to orders under Section 37A.
“Considering the above, this Court finds that neither Section 11-I nor Section 38 is applicable to the petitioner for preferring an appeal against the impugned order,” the Court held.
Accordingly, the Court set aside and quashed the evacuation order dated September 4, 2026. It directed the Fire and Emergency Services authority to reconsider the reply submitted by TMC on September 3, 2026, and to conduct a fresh inspection of the premises after issuing notice to the party.