The Supreme Court on Monday took suo motu cognisance of the deaths of three IAS aspirants due to flooding in the basement of RAU’s IAS Study Circle in Old Rajinder Nagar, issuing a notice to the Centre and Delhi Government, to examine if safety norms are being followed.
The Court said coaching centres have become “death chambers” and are playing with the lives of students. “The incident was an eye-opener for all,” it added.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan was hearing an appeal by the Coaching Federation of India challenging directions of the Delhi High Court regarding the proliferation of coaching institutes in Mukherjee Nagar. The bench said it was not sure as to what effective steps regarding safety had been taken by the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi or the Central Government. “The recent unfortunate incidents taking away lives of some of the young ones who joined coaching centres for their career pursuits are eye openers for one and all.
We therefore deem it appropriate to expand the scope of these proceedings as suo motu to issue notice to Union of India (through Ministry of Urban Affairs) and NCT of Delhi to show cause as to what safety norms have been prescribed so far and if so what is the effective mechanism introduced for their compliance,” the court said in its order.
“This is horrible what we are reading.
If need be, we will even close down these coaching centres. For the time being, the coaching should go online, unless there is meticulous compliance of building regulations and other safety norms.”These places (coaching centres) have become death chambers. Coaching centres are playing with the lives of these aspirants who have come from different parts of the country with dreams and are working hard,” the bench said. Such institutes must be made to operate via online classes until there is full compliance with the safety norms under the Master Plan of Delhi, 2021 read with Unified Building Bye Laws of Delhi, 2016, the Court suggested. “All coaching institutes and centres of Delhi are required to comply with the fire and safety norms under the Master Plan of Delhi, 2021 read with Unified Building Bye Laws of Delhi, 2016. Coaching institutes can operate online unless there is full compliance of the safety norms and basic norms for dignified life of young ones studying there.
Such norms must include proper ventilation, safety passages, air and light,” the Court said.
The top court took cognisance of the matter while hearing a petition filed by an association of coaching centres challenging a December 2023 Delhi High Court order which had directed the city’s fire services and the civic body to inspect all coaching centres here to ascertain if they are complying with the fire safety norms.
Terming the plea frivolous, the apex court dismissed the appeal while imposing a cost of Rs 1 lakh on the association and said no coaching centre should be allowed to operate unless there is compliance with fire safety norms and other requirements.
“It is very inappropriate time when this has come up....This is a state of affairs where a lot of young ones coming from places across the country to Delhi have lost their lives.
On this plea by Coaching Federation, we are imposing one Lakh cost to be deposited with the Supreme Court Bar Association and Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association,” the Court directed.
On Friday, the High Court transferred the probe into the deaths of the three students from Delhi Police to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) “to ensure the public has no doubt over the investigation”.
Seven people, including Rau’s IAS Study Circle CEO Abhishek Gupta and coordinator Deshpal Singh, have been arrested in the death of three IAS aspirant due to flooding in the basement of RAU’s IAS Study Circle in Old Rajinder Nagar. The three who died were Shreya Yadav (25) of Uttar Pradesh, Tanya Soni (25) from Telangana and Nevin Delvin (24) from Kerala. Students enrolled in various coaching institutes have been protesting since the incident, demanding improved safety measures at coaching centres.