The National Green Tribunal (NGT), Western Zone Bench, has directed the Pune District collector to disburse nearly ₹2.70 crore in compensation from State funds to the legal heirs of 14 workers killed in the Pimpri-Chinchwad candle unit fire in December 2023. The amount must be paid within two months of the order being uploaded and later recovered from the project proponent, M/S Shivraj Enterprises.
Event Context
The order, uploaded on July 29, was passed by a Bench of Justice Dinesh Kumar Singh, Judicial Member, and Sujit Kumar Bajpayee, Expert Member, during a hearing on July 27. The proceedings were initiated suo motu based on a December 9, 2023 news report titled “Pune: 6 dead in fire at candle making unit.”
The fire, which claimed the lives of 14 workers, mostly women, had raised concerns over industrial safety and workers’ welfare.
During the hearing, counsel for M/s Shivraj Enterprises submitted that the company had suffered total losses in the blaze and was unable to pay compensation. The company reiterated this in an affidavit, citing lack of financial capacity.
The compensation proposal, initially assessed at ₹2.98 crore, was revised after deducting ₹28 lakh towards PMO relief for the 14 families. The final compensation stands at ₹2,69,75,164.
Individual compensation ranges from ₹1.63 lakh to ₹26.01 lakh. The highest amount has been awarded to the legal heirs of Apeksha Ashok Torane, Pratiksha Ashok Torane and Radha Sayaj Godhade, while the legal heir of Kamaladevi Suraj Prajapat will receive ₹1.63 lakh.
As the company was unable to pay immediately, the Tribunal directed the Pune Collector to release the compensation from State funds within two months and recover the amount from M/s Shivraj Enterprises thereafter. The original application was disposed of with these directions.
Player Focus
The Tribunal noted, from an affidavit filed by the Pune District Collector, that each family had received ₹5 lakh from the Maharashtra government and ₹2 lakh from the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund, for a total of ₹7 lakh in ex gratia assistance. It observed that the project proponent had deducted only the State assistance and directed a further deduction of ₹2 lakh per claimant.
Team Analysis
Following the Tribunal’s July 17, 2026 order, the project proponent submitted a compensation statement calculated using the principles laid down in the Supreme Court’s Sarla Verma judgment, which considers factors such as age, income and family dependency.
