The Delhi High Court on Wednesday granted more time to respondents to file their replies on a plea seeking immediate action against illegal hotels and guesthouses being run across the national capital violating fire and safety norms.

A division bench of the High Court headed by Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and also comprising Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani extended the time for filing their response and slated the matter for hearing on July 18.

This came after the counsel for the respondents sought more time from the court to file the reply. During the previous hearing, the court had sought a response from Delhi government and all three municipal corporations regarding action taken against illegal hotels and guesthouses in the city.

The petition, filed by Arpit Bhargawa, an advocate, sought direction to respondents to fix the accountability of the officials, and their negligence, which resulted in the death of 17 people in a fire at Arpit Palace at Karol Bagh.

The FIR filed by the Delhi Police in Hotel Arpit fire case had pointed towards various lapses in running the hotel.

Delhi's Chief Fire officer Atul Garg, while speaking to ANI, had said: "Most of deaths occurred due to smoke. Every building needs an NOC. After the NOC is granted, we conduct the inspection. If everything is all right, then NOC is valid for a period of three years.

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