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2. History of the case in brief:
A large quantity of fire crackers stored in the Old Rice Mill of Mr.Jayasankar at No.94, Sholingar  Pallipattu Road, Pallipattu was said to be deflagrated at about 18.30 hrs on 16.10.2009. During the time of occurrence more than 35 people were said to be in side the premises to purchase the fire crackers in addition to the owner of the fire crackers Mr.Anandakumar. Once the deflagration started, Mr.Anandakumar and few others fled from the scene and the remaining members were found charred dead.
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3.3. The said rice mill was taken on lease by Mr.Ananthakumar for the purpose of storing and selling fire crackers in the above premises. It was understood that Mr.Ananthakumar has not holding any valid license to store and sell the fire crackers in the premises. Moreover, no safety measures prescribed by the Fire and Rescue Department were found to have been installed in the said premises. ...................................................................

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4.8. Now the question before us is; due to deflagration of fire crackers in a small place, where so many number of windows and entrances are available to escape from the scene, how could it caused the death of 32 members. Normally when a huge quantity of fire crackers burnt, dense dark smoke will emanate. If any lives are near or present in this atmosphere it will mask the vision and obstruct the respiration followed by the unconscious. In this case the size of the rooms are 20' x 24' and 20' x 27'. The quantity of fire crackers were said to be heavy, which was confirmed by the presence of remnants of fire crackers found in the SOC. The number of persons present during the time of occurrence was more than 35. The windows and the rolling shutters found in the entrance might have been kept under closed condition as explained earlier. The rolling shutter[S1] was in a defective condition. In case of emergency it could not be opened easily. Under these condition, the persons inside the SOC could not escape when the explosion taken place. Hence, the 32 persons trapped in side the SOC were dead.

62. Since it is also the claim of the 3rd and 4th respondents that it is for a retail sale of crackers, the premises was made ready. Therefore, if at all it is only meant for retail sale of crackers, it must be within the meaning of LE- 5 license of either for 25 Kgs of crackers or at the most 100 Kgs of crackers.

63. However, paragraph 4.8 of SOC report specifically states that the quantity of fire crackers were said to be heavy, which was confirmed by the presence of remnants of fire crackers found in the SOC. Therefore, a large quantity of fireworks/crackers could have been stored by the 3rd respondent in the premises which is a flagrant violation of the Rules as well as license conditions. Even if the license was granted by the authority, pursuant to the recommendations and NOC conveyed by the various organs of the State, that license would have been given in respect of selling of crackers on retail basis by way of LE-5 license to the maximum extent of either for 25 Kgs of crackers or at the most 100 Kgs of crackers. However, the fact remains that a huge quantity of crackers had been stored in the premises and that is the reason why the intensity of the fire was very huge and in the result, all the 32 persons, who had been trapped in the fire, have lost their lives. These factors have been confirmed by the report of the SOC and therefore, it is obvious that very huge quantities of crackers have been stored in the premises, where the business of crackers' sale went on busy on the fateful day.