Pune: Following the discovery of counterfeit lift permits, a new scandal involving fake No Objection Certificates (NOCs) for fire lifts has come to light in the Talegaon area.

The Maharashtra Lifts and Escalators Act, 2017, clearly has no provision for issuing such NOCs, yet it has become evident that unauthorized NOCs for fire lifts are being distributed.

According to legal procedures, installing a lift in any building requires approval from the Energy Department’s lift inspector.

The department has appointed two inspectors to oversee various responsibilities such as granting permissions for lift installation, issuing licenses to lift contractors, conducting necessary exams, and physically inspecting lift installations to ensure safety standards are met.

The regulation of lift installation and safety operations falls under the Maharashtra Lifts Act of 1939, and its rules were framed in 1958. However, in 2017, the Energy Department amended the law, proposing the new Maharashtra Lifts and Escalators Act, 2017.

Despite this, the rules required to implement the amended law are still pending from the state government, forcing officials to continue operating under the outdated 1958 regulations.

The law mandates that buildings taller than 15 meters must have fire lifts. However, there is no provision in the law for issuing NOCs for fire lifts. Despite this, several fraudulent NOCs have been issued in Talegaon.

The revelation of this practice has raised significant concerns, as these NOCs are being widely distributed without legal authority, jeopardizing public safety.

Uday Dombe, Lift Inspector, clarified, “For buildings taller than 15 meters, the law mandates the installation of fire lifts. We have prepared a set of guidelines for such installations, which were sent to the Talegaon Municipal Council upon their request. We do not issue any NOCs for fire lifts.”