The Delhi High Court on Friday took suo motu cognizance based upon a news report as well as messages circulating on social media highlighting that a major fire broke out at a coaching institute in Delhi’s Mukherjee Nagar on Thursday afternoon in which scores of students had a narrow escape.
The vacation bench of Justices Jasmeet Singh and Vikas Mahajan issued notice to the Delhi Government, the Delhi Fire Services Department, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and the Delhi Police and sought the respective stands of the respondents within two weeks.
As per the news article published in Times of India’s edition dated 16.06.2023, nearly 500 students enrolled at a coaching centre in a four-storey building at a commercial complex constructed by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) at Mukherjee Nagar had a narrow escape when the fire broke out from a short circuit in the electricity meter.
The bench directed the Delhi Fire Services Department to conduct a fire safety audit and to check whether fire safety certificates have been issued to the coaching institutes running in Mukherjee Nagar, which is considered to be the coaching centre hub in North-West Delhi.
“The Delhi Fire Services Department is required to do a fire audit in such buildings to ensure that there is adequate fire safety measure as hundreds of students visit these institutes for specialised coaching,” the bench directed while slating the matter for July 3, 2023.