LEKSHMY DEVY GOPALAKRISHNA BUILDING Vs. ASSISTANT DIVISIONAL OFFICER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The issue concerns fire safety. And that calls into question the building-height and the method of its measurement.

(2.) Appellant Lekshmy Devy applied to the Municipal Corporation for permission to construct at Edappally Village a five-storied mercantilecum-residential building (GF+4) , having height below 15 metres. As a precondition to getting sanction from the Municipal Corporation, Lekshmy Devy had to obtain a No-Objection Certificate ("NOC") from the 1st respondent the Assistant Divisional Officer ("ADO") , the Fire and Rescue Services.

(3.) To obtain the NOC, Lekshmy Devy applied to the ADO; she also submitted Annexure A1 sketch showing the height of the proposed building as 14.80 metres. Acting on Lekshmy Devy's application, the ADO issued her Annexure A2 NOC. Later, having obtained the building permit from the Corporation, Lekshmy Devy completed the building and submitted a completion report to the Corporation to get occupancy certificate. As a matter of procedural compliance, the Corporation, in turn, asked the ADO to certify whether the construction, among other things, meets the requirements as required by the Fire and Rescue Services. At that time too, Lekshmy Devy submitted the Ext.A3 sketch showing the height of the completed building as 14.95 metres slightly taller than what was shown in the Ext.A1 sketch, but still under 15 meters.