MUMBAI, Aug. 23 -- The Bombay High Court has quashed criminal proceedings against the office-bearers of a Kandivali housing society in connection with a 2021 fire that killed two elderly women, ruling that they could not be held criminally liable for a blaze caused by a short circuit in the doorbell of a flat. The court also cleared the building's builder and architect, noting that the building had received an occupation certificate in 2014. A single bench of Justice Milind Jadhav passed the order on Thursday while allowing petitions filed by the accused, who had approached the high court in 2022 seeking quashing of the FIR. "Cause of action for the fire to occur in the present case is the short circuit occurred on the 14th floor door bell of a flat in the said building," the court said, adding that holding then and earlier office bearers responsible for such incidents would "lead to a disastrous situation." The court held that imposing criminal liability on the society office-bearers for a fire caused by the short circuit was "completely unsustainable". The incident took place on November 6, 2021, at Hansa Heritage building in Kandivali West, where two elderly women died. Following the fire, Kandivali police registered an FIR against the then and former chairman and secretaries of the housing society, besides the builder and architect. All the accused were booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and Maharashtra Fire Prevention and Life Safety Measure Act. The court also quashed the proceedings against builder Tribhuvandas M Rughani and architect Sanjay Shah. The two had been booked mainly over allegations that the original sanctioned plans were amended and that a gate shown in an earlier plan was removed, which allegedly prevented fire brigade vehicles from reaching the building during the blaze. Jadhav observed that it was common for building plans to be amended and noted that there was no allegation that the building was unauthorised. Hence, the court held that no criminal liability could be fixed on them....