Overview

• On June 10, 2025, a bench of Justices B P Colabawalla and Firdosh Pooniwalla ordered the BMC to pay ₹50 lakh to each of the eight victims’ families within 12 weeks.
• The court found the civic body grossly negligent for granting licences without a fire department no‐objection certificate and failing to act on repeated complaints and inspections.
• Investigators noted that Hotel City Kinara used its mezzanine floor as a service area, stored prohibited gas cylinders and operated without required safety approvals.
• The blaze on October 16, 2015, killed seven students aged 18–20 and a 31-year-old design engineer from Virar.
• The high court quashed the Lokayukta’s 2017 dismissal of the families’ plea and deemed the earlier ₹1 lakh interim compensation inadequate given the long-term impact.