The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Friday turned down Sindh Governor Kamran Tessori’s request to constitute a judicial commission to probe the Gul Plaza inferno, citing non-compliance with the relevant law and case law “in letter and spirit”.

In his letter to SHC Chief Justice Zafar Ahmed Rajput dated January 27, the Muttahida Qaumi Move­ment-Pakistan (MQM-P) leader requested the SHC CJ to constitute a judicial inquiry commission to “investigate the Gul Plaza fire incident and to dig out the root cause, negligence facts or violations of law that may have led to this unfortunate occurrence”.

A letter was issued by the high court in response to the governor’s request to constitute a judicial inquiry regarding the incident, a copy of which is available with Dawn.

The response, dated January 28, stated that the chief justice was “pleased to record minutes that the procedure for a formal, independent inquiry into matters of public concern, typically led by a judge or legal expert, is to be appointed by the government so as to establish facts, determine responsibility and make recommendations for cases involving significant public interest, as stipulated under section 3 of the Pakistan Commissions of Inquiry Act, 2017”.

However, it added, the need for consultation with the head of an institution arose in the event where the inquiry envisioned was to be conducted by any member of that particular institution.

The letter stated that this need arose in view of the case law “reported as Abid Shahid Zuberi versus Federation of Pakistan PLD 2023 Supreme Court 493”.

“Accordingly, the entreaty made in the subject letter cannot be approved until the procedure enunciated in the above quoted statute and cited case law is not followed in the letter and spirit,” stated the response.

However, official sources in the SHC told Dawn that the Sindh government’s letter, formally requesting the court to nominate a sitting judge to conduct a judicial inquiry, was under consideration.

According to a letter from CM House to the registrar of the Sindh High Court, a cabinet sub-committee headed by Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah reviewed the matter during its meeting held on Thursday (Jan 29). The committee discussed the circumstances surrounding the fire incident at Gul Plaza and agreed that an independent judicial probe was necessary.

“In order to ensure transparency, accountability and institutional learning, the sub-committee decided that the Honourable Chief Justice of the High Court of Sindh may be requested to nominate a sitting judge of the High Court to conduct a judicial inquiry into the Gul Plaza fire incident to ascertain responsibility and regulatory lapses,” the letter stated.

The correspondence added that the inquiry would focus on fixing responsibility and examining any failures in regulatory oversight linked to the incident, which claimed multiple lives and caused extensive damage to the commercial building.

The CM House also urged the registrar to process the request promptly, stating that “an early response is solicited”.

The deadly inferno at Gul Plaza, which erupted on the night of January 17 and took nearly two days to be fully extinguished, claimed at least 73 lives and left over 1,100 shops in ruins.

Tessori’s letter was issued amid growing calls from the opposition parties to form an inquiry commission in response to preliminary findings on the incident, which suggested that the fire was caused accidentally by a minor son of the owner of a flower shop.