KAT upholds suspension of three officers in Attibele fire incident

The Karnataka State Administrative Tribunal (KSAT) has upheld the suspension of three officers in connection with the blaze at a firecracker shop and godown at Attibele that claimed 17 lives in October.

The three – Tahasildar of Anekal Shashidhar Madyal, Attibele Circle Revenue Inspector Pushparaj and Attibele Revenue Circle village accountant Bhagesh Hosamani – had approached the KSAT against the government order of October 10.

They were accused of failing to properly conduct the spot inspection and verification of the place where Ramaswamy Reddy was given licence to sell ‘green’ firecrackers.

Precautionary measures including fire extinguishers were not in place leading to the incident, government advocate G Ramesh Naik argued before the KSAT bench.

Senior counsel PS Rajagopal appeared for the applicants and presented their case.

However, the bench did not find fault with the government order of suspension and rejected the three applications.

Balaji Cracker Shop at Attibele caught fire on October 7. The blaze and explosions left many workers from Tamil Nadu who were unloading the crackers dead.

The government entrusted the investigation to the CID and apart from suspending the three officers, notices were issued to the Deputy Commissioner and Superintendent of Police.