The judicial committee investigating the fire at the Kamala Mills compound in Mumbai on December 29 has blamed and demanded action against a co-owner of the premises and owners of the Mojo’s Bistro and 1 Above restaurants, where the fire blazed. As many as 14 people had died in the incident.

The three-member panel, comprising retired judge AV Sawant, architect Vasant Thakur and former municipal commissioner K Nalinakshan, which had been appointed by the Bombay High Court in April, submitted its report on Monday, PTI reported. The report was made available to the public on Wednesday.

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The committee recommended that the court take “appropriate punitive action” against Kamala Mills co-owner Ramesh Gowani. Gowani holds 95% of the share value of the property. He had permitted the restaurant owners to make unauthorised additions to the structures, the panel said.

“To make the situation... fatal for the patrons who died due to asphyxia...there was no trained staff or security personnel to guide them in case of emergency,” the report said, adding that 13 patrons and a waiter at 1 Above died after the waiter told them to take refuge in the illegally constructed toilet after the blaze began.

“The rear side of the terrace was blocked, and the terrace area was used for stocking inflammable material such as liquor, kerosene and coal,” the report said. “Also, the terrace was used for serving hookah. All of these were in violation of the licence terms and the fire norms.”

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The report added that Superintendent of State Excise AB Chaksar and Excise Inspectors Sandeep More and Vijay Thorat ignored the violations. It urged “stricter checks and balances” in future to ensure such violations do not take place.

The police have already arrested Gowani and six owners of 1 Above and Mojo’s Bistro. In May, the Supreme Court denied bail to Mojo’s Bistro co-owner Yug Tulli, who had appealed against a Bombay High Court order.