Form B fire certificate in Maharashtra: what it is, who signs it and when it is due

What is the Form B fire certificate?

Form B is a certificate prescribed by rule 4(2) of the Maharashtra Fire Prevention and Life Safety Measures Rules, 2009. Its printed title is 'Six monthly certificate to be given in every January and July by the owner or the occupier for compliance of the Fire Prevention and Life Safety Measures'.

The duty behind it is in section 3(3) of the Act. The owner or occupier must furnish to the Chief Fire Officer or the nominated officer, twice a year in January and July, a certificate in the prescribed form about the maintenance of the fire prevention and life safety measures in good repair and efficient condition, as section 3(1) requires. Section 3(1) is the general duty to provide fire safety measures as recommended in the building's Fire Safety Approval and to maintain them at all times.

In short, Form A proves the systems were installed correctly. Form B proves, every six months, that they are still working.

Who signs Form B?

A Licensed Agency. Rule 4(2) says the certificate is to be issued by a Licensed Agency, and the form itself ends with the signature, address and licence number of the Licensed Agency. The owner or occupier does not sign it as the certifier; the owner's role is to get it issued and to furnish it to the fire authority.

A Licensed Agency is a person or association of persons licensed for undertaking or executing fire prevention and life safety measures under the Act. After the 2023 amendment, section 2(6) says the licence is granted by the Director of the Maharashtra Fire and Emergency Services. Section 10(1) reserves the work of providing fire prevention and life safety measures to Licensed Agencies.

The agency takes on real liability. Section 10(2) forbids a Licensed Agency, or anyone claiming to be one, from giving a section 3(3) certificate about compliance or maintenance without actual compliance or maintenance.

When is Form B due?

Form B is due twice a year, in the months of January and July. Since the Maharashtra Fire Prevention and Life Safety Measures (Amendment) Rules, 2025 (gazette of 12 June 2025), rule 4(2) says the certificate covers the measures being in good repair and efficient condition 'in preceding six months', and measures them against section 3(1) of the Act and the National Building Code and the Indian Standard Code. Before that change the rule did not name the six month look-back or the codes.

Rule 4(5), also added in 2025, says the owner or occupier may submit the certificate in person, by registered post, by courier or online, to the Chief Fire Officer or the Director as the case may be.

The rule fixes the month, not a day of the month. Some fire authorities set their own portal or office procedure; check with the local Chief Fire Officer.

What does Form B certify?

The wording of Form B has three parts. The agency certifies that it has carried out an inspection of the fire prevention and life safety measures installed in the named building, with full location and postal address. It certifies that these installations were maintained in good repair and efficient condition during the stated period, as required by the Act. And it appends a report with the details of the inspection carried out.

That appended report is where the real work lies. A Form B without a credible inspection record behind it is exposed under section 10(2). A useful report lists each system inspected, what was tested, what was found and what was corrected.

• Building name and full postal address, and the period covered.
• Each installation inspected: hydrants, sprinklers, pumps, detection and alarm, extinguishers, emergency lighting, pressurisation and the rest named in the Fire Safety Approval.
• Test results and deficiencies, with dates.
• Agency signature, address and licence number.

Form A vs Form B: what is the difference?

Both are Licensed Agency certificates under rule 4, but they answer different questions. Since 2025 there are also two ACMS versions, Form A-1 and Form B-1, for buildings listed in section 45(1) of the Act.

What are the penalties if a Form B problem is cited?

Section 36(1) of the Act lists the offences. Two are directly relevant. Under clause (a)(i), the owner or occupier commits an offence by failing to provide and maintain fire prevention and life safety equipment in good repair and efficient condition under section 3(1). Under clause (f)(ii), anyone giving a section 3(3) certificate without actual compliance or maintenance commits an offence; that reaches an agency that signs a Form B without a real inspection.

The punishment in section 36(1), as enacted, is rigorous imprisonment of not less than six months and up to three years, and a fine of not less than 20,000 rupees and up to 50,000 rupees. For a continuing offence there is a further fine of up to 3,000 rupees per day after the first conviction. The proviso lets a court go down to three months and 10,000 rupees (or 1,000 rupees per day) only for special and adequate reasons recorded in the judgment.

Separately, after an inspection the Director, Chief Fire Officer or nominated officer can issue a notice under section 6 directing the owner or occupier to put deficiencies right within a set time, and failing to comply with that notice is itself an offence under section 36(1)(d).

Section 36(1) does not list late filing of Form B as a separate offence. The exposure is the underlying failure to maintain, or a false certificate. Take legal advice on a specific case.

What is the Section 45A fire audit every two years?

The Maharashtra Fire Prevention and Life Safety Measures (Amendment) Act, 2023 inserted section 45A. It requires the owner, or the occupier where the owner is not traceable, of every building listed in section 45(1) to have a Fire and Life Safety Audit carried out by a licensed Fire and Life Safety Auditor: first within one year of the commencement of the 2023 Amendment Act, and thereafter once in every two years. The owner furnishes the auditor's certificate to the Director, Chief Fire Officer or nominated officer.

The Act defines the audit as the evaluation of fire prevention and life safety measures required under the prevailing Acts, rules or the National Building Code. Rule 31, added in 2025, prescribes the auditor's certificate as Form V. Rule 33 sets the auditor's duties, which include a 360-degree fire hazard risk assessment, checking ignition sources, electrical hazards and storage compatibility, verifying active, alarm and passive measures, evaluating the fire control room, staff awareness and training, testing all active measures, and keeping date and time stamped photographs or videos of the testing.

Only a licensed Fire and Life Safety Auditor may carry out this work (section 45A(7)), and that licence is granted by the Director, separate from a Licensed Agency licence.

• Buildings above 30 m used as hotel, hospital, business, mercantile or mixed occupancy.
• Residential buildings above 70 m.
• Refineries, LPG bottling plants and similar large oil and gas installations.
• Industrial buildings with moderate hazard and 30,000 square metres or more built up, or high hazard and 10,000 square metres or more.

How is Form B different from a fire audit and a fire NOC?

People often use these three terms as if they were the same. In Maharashtra law they are three separate instruments, issued by three different people, on three different cycles. What is commonly called a fire NOC is, in the Act as amended in 2023, a Provisional Fire Safety Approval, Final Fire Safety Approval or Renewal of Fire Safety Approval from the Chief Fire Officer under section 3(1).