In the backdrop of the death of three civil service aspirants due to flooding at a coaching centre, the Supreme Court on Monday initiated a suo motu case to look into the safety norms being adhered to by buildings and coaching institutes in Delhi.
The Bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan issued suo motu notice to the Union of India and the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) to come out with details on what safety norms have been prescribed so far and how they have ensured compliance with the same.
Calling them ‘death chambers,’ which were taking away the lives of young ones coming from different parts of the country, the Apex Court directed all coaching institutes and centres of Delhi to comply with the fire and safety norms under the Master Plan of Delhi, 2021 read with Unified Building Bye Laws of Delhi, 2016.
The Court suggested that such institutes must be made to operate via online classes until there was full compliance with the safety norms under the Master Plan of Delhi, 2021 read with Unified Building Bye Laws of Delhi, 2016.
The coaching institutes should operate online unless there was full compliance of safety norms and basic norms for the dignified life of young ones studying there. Such norms must include proper ventilation, safety passages, air and light, it added.
The bench passed the order on an appeal filed by the Coaching Federation of India challenging the directions of the Delhi High Court on proliferation of coaching institutes in Mukherjee Nagar area of Delhi for their failure to comply with fire and safety norms.
The Apex Court rejected the appeal and also imposed costs of Rs 1 lakh on the Coaching Federation of India.
The bench directed the Coaching Federation of India to deposit the amount with the Supreme Court Bar Association and Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association.
Three civil services aspirants lost their lives in the basement of a building in Rajendra Nagar, which housed a branch of Rau’s IAS Study Circle, a prominent coaching institute for civil service aspirants.
The institute’s library in the basement was flooded following heavy rains and three of them could not make it out of the basement on time.
The three aspirants who died in the incident were identified as Tania Soni (25), Shreya Yadav (25) and Navin Delvin (28).
The Delhi High Court is already hearing a public interest litigation about the same and had also ordered a CBI probe into the incident besides setting up a committee to examine the financial and administrative set up of Delhi and submit a report.