HC appoints new amicus in Birch case

Panaji: After advocate Rohit Bras de Sa stepped down as amicus curiae in the Birch by Romeo Lane suo motu PIL on Tuesday, the Bombay high court appointed advocate Terence Sequeira as the new amicus curiae in the petition.The HC had taken suo motu cognisance of the case where 25 persons lost their lives in the night club fire at Arpora that was operated without permissions in Dec last year.It is looking into the larger issue of commercial establishments run from illegal structures in the state and directed coastal panchayats and municipalities to submit details of illegal commercial establishments being run.On Monday it had directed all the details of the deceased employees and their dependents to be placed before it to decide on the issue of compensation to be paid to them.