Blanket ban will create chaos; we have a plan: Bombay High Court in Goa nightclub fire matter

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday said it does not want to create chaos by directing blanket action against commercial establishments allegedly operating in violation of the law in Goa.

The Division Bench of Justices Suman Shyam and Amit Jamsandekar made the observation while hearing a case related to the December 2025 fire at Birch by Romeo Lane in Arpora, in which 25 people were killed after a blaze.

“We have a plan. We will deal with it. But we don’t want to create chaos. Overnight, things cannot be handled. It cannot be delayed beyond a point also. Let us move in a systematic manner. Because this is not a problem created overnight,” the Court said. 

The Court expressed the view after a lawyer in the matter sought a survey of illegal structures and commercial operations.

The Court also said that its orders must not cause any prejudice to anyone.

“We also have to be careful that as a Court, we can’t pass an order which causes prejudice to anyone. That is the difficulty in dealing with these matters through judiciary,” the Bench said.

“If the administration does anything wrong, people will come here. But if our orders affect someone, where will they go?,” the judges added.

The Court had earlier observed that the State government cannot evade its liability in the matter, and had said that the incident involved a clear violation of fundamental rights of workmen who died in the basement of the unauthorised structure. 

The Bench had also said that it did not intend to make the proceeding too cumbersome, clarifying that it would instead focus on three broad areas: 

- identifying those responsible,

- compensating victims, and

- putting in place stringent measures to ensure such mishaps do not re-occur.

Today, the Court was informed today that a sum of ₹7 lakh (₹5 lakh by State + ₹2 lakh by the Centre) has been paid to each victim as ex-gratia compensation. Additionally, ₹1 lakh (₹50,000 by State + ₹50,000 by Centre) has been paid to each injured person.

The PIL will be heard next in the second week of March.