India, July 13 -- Nearly a month after the Delhi government notified rules permitting third-party fire safety audits, the Delhi Fire Service (DFS) has yet to create a database of empanelled auditors, officials aware of the matter said on Sunday.

Officials said that the DFS has decided to use the existing database of around 2,200 architects who are already empanelled with the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and eligible to conduct fire safety audits under the new framework to create their own database. However, despite the fire department reaching out to them, none of them have so far submitted the required details to the fire department for empanelment.

"We had decided that instead of empa...