Coaching centre deaths: Delhi HC summons MCD Commissioner, DCP, IO

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday summoned the Commissioner of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) and Investigating Officer (IO) over the deaths of three UPSC aspirants in the city’s Old Rajendra Nagar on July 27.

A Bench presided over by Acting Chief Justice (ACJ) Manmohan was hearing a PIL seeking the constitution of a high-level committee to enquire into the incident wherein three UPSC aspirants died in a basement following heavy rain.

The Bench, also comprising Justice Tushar Rao Gedela, raised eyebrows over the “freebie culture”, observing that the city government was left with no money to upgrade infrastructure.

It remarked, “You have to decide on this freebie culture. There is a population of 3.3 crore people in this city whereas it was planned for 6-7 lakh people. How do you plan to accommodate so many people without upgrading infra?”

On Tuesday, the Delhi High Court agreed to a urgent hearing of the PIL on Wednesday.

ACJ Manmohan assured advocate Rudra Vikram Singh, who appeared on behalf of the PIL litigant and mentioned the plea for an urgent hearing, that the matter will be listed on Wednesday.

The PIL said that due to “huge corruption” in public departments many people have been losing their lives for years and the national Capital has faced many terrible and scary incidents in the past few years.

“In Delhi, more than 50 per cent of the commercial buildings are running in an illegal manner and many of them are running in residential areas that, too, without having any proper approval and clearances, and the respondents (authorities) are well aware of their illegal functioning but are allowing them just for the sake of some bribery amount,” it said.

The plea said that the right to die with dignity is also a Fundamental Right like the right to life with dignity as provided by Article 21 of the Constitution of India, however, the Delhi authorities failed to provide life with dignity or at least the right to die with dignity to the citizens and people are dying because of their “negligence”.

It may be recalled that the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Monday formed a committee to enquire into the incident that claimed three lives in the national Capital.

The committee, comprising the Additional Secretary (Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs), Principal Secretary (Home) Delhi, Special Commissioner of Delhi Police, Fire Advisor, and the Joint Secretary (MHA), will submit its report within 30 days.

On Saturday evening, three UPSC aspirants lost their lives after heavy rainfall led to waterlogging in the basement of a coaching institute in Delhi's Old Rajendra Nagar area, which was being used illegally as a library.

The incident trapped 17 other students for several hours, highlighting the dire safety issues in these establishments.

The basement of the coaching centre was used as a library in violation of the rules since the space was allowed to be used only for parking and storage purposes.