UPSC aspirants death: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday reprimanded Delhi Police officials and MCD officials over the death of three UPSC aspirants who drowned in the basement of a coaching center. The court said, “A strange investigation is going on, in which the police is taking action against the pedestrian driving the car, but not against the MCD officials”.
The Delhi High Court has directed the MCD Commissioner, DCP, and the investigating officer to appear in court on Friday. Apart from this, the court has directed the officials to remove all encroachments from the drains of the Rajendra Nagar area by the same day.
The Delhi High Court further said that when taxes are not collected due to “freebie culture”, such tragedies are bound to happen.
The court said that multi-story buildings are being allowed to run, but there is no proper drainage.
A bench of Justice Tushar Rao Gedela said, “You want freebie culture, do not want to collect taxes… this is bound to happen.”
Scenes from Karol Bagh metro station:
UPSC aspirants have been protesting since last night following the tragic death of 3 students in a basement library.
“We won’t move until the MCD commissioner meets us,” declared one protester.
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Taking a dig at the authorities, the Court said they need to build infrastructure but they are bankrupt and cannot even pay salaries. The Court was hearing a plea seeking a high-level committee to probe the death of three civil services aspirants in the basement of a flooded coaching center in Old Rajinder Nagar on the evening of July 27.
The petition, filed by NGO Kutumb through trustee Jitendra Singh and represented by advocate Rudra Vikram Singh, seeks two main actions. First, it requests an inquiry into the Delhi Municipal Corporation authorities who allegedly did not act on the complaint received on June 26. Second, it seeks the establishment of a district-level committee in each district of Delhi to investigate and resolve issues related to illegal commercial construction.
“Submit an action report in respect of the Mukherjee Nagar incident as ordered by the Court earlier. Formation of a committee to investigate coaching institutes operating illegally or not following standard norms,” the petition demanded.
The recent incidents highlight the ongoing safety concerns in Delhi. Another PIL was filed on July 28 urging the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) to implement immediate measures to prevent future incidents. The petition aims to address issues such as waterlogging and improve the safety situation across the city.
The petition emphasises the urgent need to address safety loopholes by recalling past incidents such as the massive fire at a coaching institute in Mukherjee Nagar last year. The fire forced panicked students to jump from windows or escape by climbing down the building using ropes.
In response to similar concerns, the Delhi High Court had earlier directed the MCD and the Delhi Development Authority to shut down any coaching centers found violating fire safety norms.
The three who died were Shreya Yadav (25) from Uttar Pradesh, Tanya Soni (25) from Telangana, and Navin Delvin (24) from Kerala.
(With inputs from agency)