IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD R/WRIT PETITION (PIL) (DIRECTION) NO. 52 of 2025 =============================================

CHANDAR SINGH NAYAK Versus STATE OF GUJARAT & ORS.

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Appearance:

MR.RONITH JOY WITH MR.MEHUL DHONDE FOR MR UTKARSH J DAVE(10620) for the Applicant(s) No. 1 MS.MAITHILI MEHTA, ASST.GOVERNMENT PLEADER for the Opponent(s) No. 1,2,3,4,5,7,8 MS SEJAL K MANDAVIA(436) for the Opponent(s) No. 6 =============================================

CORAM:HONOURABLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE MRS. JUSTICE SUNITA AGARWAL and HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE D.N.RAY Date : 25/11/2025

ORAL ORDER

(PER : HONOURABLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE MRS. JUSTICE SUNITA AGARWAL)

1. This Public Interest Litigation has been registered under the order dated 18.11.2025 passed by this Court, upon transfer of the matter by the Apex Court under the order dated 26.09.2025.

2. The relief sought by the petitioners is primarily against the State respondents. The notice on behalf of the respondent Nos. 1 to 5 and Nos.7 and 8 has been served in the office of the learned Government Pleader. Ms.Maithili Mehta, the learned Assistant Government Pleader has put in appearance on behalf of the State respondents.

3. The contention in the writ petition is that a fire incident had occurred in two warehouses, where illegal fire crackers were stacked, which had resulted in the death of 21 workers including seven children, who died due to burn injuries. When fire broke out on 01.04.2025 in the illegal manufacturing facilities at Deesa, mentioned as “Deesa Warehouses”, atleast 27 workers were inside and they could not escape due to collapsed walls and ongoing explosions. Two out of six warehouses in the locality were reportedly flattened by fire. Several body parts of unidentified people were found in the debris.

4. The contention in the petition is that all the labourers were brought to work illegally and many engaged were children and women, as against the Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act’ 1986.

5. An FIR has been lodged against the owners of the warehouse, namely Khubchandbhai Renumal Mohnani and Dipakbhai Khubchandbhai Mohnani (both father and son) under relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 for culpable homicide not amounting to murder and the provisions of the Explosives Act’ 1884 and the Explosives Substances Act’ 1908.

6. The petitioner herein is a labourer from Devas village of Madhya Pradesh, who had lost six members of his family in the blast including his daughter, son-in-law and siblings of his son-in-law and the mother-in-law of his deceased daughter.

7. Apart from the incident occurred on 01.04.2025, it is contended that other similar incidents took place on 20.04.2023 in District Aravalli in the State of Gujarat, where four labourers were charred to death as a massive fire broke out in the fire crackers factory. Another incident occurred on 10.05.2023, where a massive fire broke out in a godown in Vikas Estate, Bapunagar Constituency in District Ahmedabad. The fire was caused due to illegal storage of fire crackers in the godown for which the owner had no permission. The petitioner also narrated an incident occurred on 21.04.2024 in Vanch in District Ahmedabad near Mahemdavad Highway, where two people had died in a blast occurred in a fire cracker factory. Reference has been made to the suo motu cognizance taken by this Court in the Fire Tragedy in District Rajkot on 26.05.2024 and the orders passed therein.

8. The submission of the petitioner in the writ petition is that a five member Special Investigation Team (SIT) was formed on 01.04.2025 by the Range Inspector General, comprising of Banaskantha Police Officers. After 12 hours of formation of the SIT, High Level Probe Committee was formed by the State Government on 02.04.2025, which includes IAS officers, FSL officer, an Engineer, for investigation of the cause and regulatory lapses behind the tragedy. Attention of this Co