New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday, September 20, directed a Union government-appointed committee probing the death of three civil services aspirants at a coaching centre here in July due to the flooding in the building’s basement to submit an interim report about the measures it wanted to be taken to prevent recurrence of such incidents within four weeks.
On July 27, three civil services aspirants drowned in the basement library of Rau’s IAS Study Circle in the Old Rajinder Nagar area here after it was flooded following heavy rain.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan directed the Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Delhi governments to apprise the court of the policy and legislative and administrative changes made to prevent a repeat of such incidents.
It said uniform initiatives should be taken in the entire National Capital Region (NCR) to prevent another Old Rajinder Nagar-type incident from happening.
“If the need arises, we will pass directions for pan-India to prevent Old Rajinder Nagar-type incidents,” the bench said.
Attorney General R Venkataramani submitted that the Centre has constituted a high-level committee to look into the unfortunate deaths that happened in Old Rajinder Nagar.
When the bench asked him how much time the panel would take to submit its report, the AG said it was likely within two months.
“This is a serious issue. You should expedite the consultation process, as action is needed on an urgent basis. We want the committee to submit its interim measures within four weeks,” the bench told Venkataramani. The top government law officer said an interim report will indeed be submitted within that period.
The court said the panel can consider intervention at legislative, policy, and administrative levels and can elicit the views of all stakeholders before making its recommendations.
“What happened in Old Rajinder Nagar was an unfortunate incident, which should not be repeated elsewhere. You need to look at various aspects, like existing regulations and the changes required. The existing structures, which are residential complexes, where these coaching institutes were running are not meant for these kinds of activities,” the bench observed.
The bench said it will be covering the “wider canvas” and would examine the issue at pan-India level to ensure that such incidents were not repeated elsewhere.
Senior advocate Aprajita Singh, appearing for the father of one of the victims, said she wanted to be impleaded in the matter. The bench allowed her intervention application and asked other intervenors to give their suggestions to the committee.
The bench asked the governments of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, and Delhi, as well as the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), to apprise the court of steps they proposed to take to prevent such incidents in the future.
The bench clarified that the proceedings before the apex court would not come in the way of a task force constituted by the Delhi High Court on the issue.
On August 5, the top court observed that coaching centres have become “death chambers” and are playing with the lives of students.
It had taken cognisance of the matter while hearing a petition filed by an association of coaching centres challenging a December 2023 Delhi High Court order that directed the city’s fire services and the civic body to inspect all coaching centres here to ascertain if they are complying with fire safety norms.
The high court had transferred the probe into the deaths of the three students from the Delhi Police to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) “to ensure the public has no doubt over the investigation.”.
The three UPSC aspirants who drowned to death were Shreya Yadav (25) of Uttar Pradesh, Tanya Soni (25) of Telangana, and Nevin Delvin (24) of Kerala.
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