Bombay High Court Takes Suo-Motu Cognizance Of Goa NightClub Fire, Directs Authorities To Take Preventive Action

The Bombay High Court has taken suo-motu cognizance of the alleged systemic failures that came into light in the wake of the recent Arpora Nightclub Fire Tragedy, claiming lives of at least 25 people.

The Court was considering a Writ Petition filed in the background of a private dispute when it took note of the fact that it "represents a much larger issue".

The Division Bench of Justice Sarang V Kotwal and Justice Ashish S Chavan held, "....though the Petition was filed between two parties, we are taking suo moto cognizance of this very serious issue. For this purpose, we direct the Registry to register a Suo Moto PIL....."

The Petitioner was represented by Advocate Rohit Bras de Sa, while the Respondent was represented by Additional Advocate General N. Vernekar.

Since Advocate Rohit Bras de Sa argued the provisions before the Court extensively, he was appointed to act as the Amicus Curiae in the Suo Moto PIL. 

Stressing that it is necessary to assign accountability to the authorities to prevent recurrence of the unfortunate incidents, the Court encouraged all parties involved to address the issues in a non-adversarial spirit, considering the larger issue involved and its cascading effect on the society.

"From the arguments what could be seen is that the problem lies in the construction of illegal structures and indiscriminate grant of licenses. hough there are certain provisions under the local laws, where the local bodies can take action, in many cases they are not implemented and the provisions remain dead letters in the statute books. In certain cases where demolition orders are passed by the local bodies, they are stayed by the appellate authorities. Taking advantage of the stay orders, the commercial activities continue in those illegal structures. In some cases, though the structures are illegal, licenses are granted for commercial businesses. All this has led to a very serious issue in the State of Goa. It is necessary that the authorities must work together proactively to address these issues rather than shifting the blame on each other....", the Court observed.

The Petition was accordingly listed for January 12, 2026.

Cause Title: Pradeep P Ghadi v. State of Goa

Appearances:

Petitioner- Advocates Rohit Bras de Sa, Priti Deshprabhu and Joel Pinto 

Respondent- Additional Advocate General N. Vernekar, Advocates P. Sawant and M. Salkar 

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