The Supreme Court on Friday sought response from the Centre on the need for laying down security guidelines to protect and thwart terror attacks on hotels like Oberoi Trident and Taj in Mumbai which bore the brunt of 26/11 strikes. The apex court also issued notices to the Maharashtra government and the East India Hotels Limited, owners of Oberoi Trident, and Indian Hotel Company Limited, owners of Hotel Taj in Mumbai, on a petition filed by victims of the Mumbai attacks contending that they were liable to provide adequate compensation for loss of lives. A Bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justice B S Chauhan, which at first was reluctant to entertain the PIL, agreed to examine the issues after advocate Meenakshi Arora answered all queries to its satisfaction. The PIL was filed by Mumbai-based Sarla Parekh, Sevanti Parekh, Vijay Kumar Motilal Agarwal and Srichand D Chhabria, who lost their kin during the attacks. Arora, who appeared for them, had to answer a volley of questions to satisfy that fresh look has to be given to the security and safety of guests at hotels across the country and under the law all hotels should have public liability insurance to provide compensation to victims of such attacks.
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