Coaching centres death chambers, students’ drowning eye-opener: Supreme Court
Satya Prakash
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, August 5
Terming the recent deaths of three civil services aspirants due to drowning in the basement of a coaching centre in the national capital an “eye-opener for one and all”, the Supreme Court on Monday took suo motu cognisance of the matter and issued notices to the Centre and the Delhi Government.
“These places (coaching centres) have become death chambers. You are taking away the lives of young ones coming from different parts of the country,” a Bench led by Justice Surya Kant said, asking the Arvind Kejriwal government and the Union Urban Development Ministry to spell out their stand on proper guidelines and safety norms for coaching institutes.
“All coaching institutes and centres of Delhi are required to comply with the fire and safety norms under the Master Plan of Delhi, 2021, read with the Unified Building Bylaws of Delhi, 2016. Coaching institutes can operate online unless there is full compliance with the safety norms and basic norms for dignified life of young ones studying there. Such norms must include proper ventilation, safety passages and air and light,” said the Bench, which also included Justice Ujjal Bhuyan.
Shreya Yadav (25) from Uttar Pradesh, Tanya Soni (25) from Telangana and Nevin Dalvin (24) from Kerala, the three IAS aspirants, drowned after rainwater entered the basement of Rau’s IAS Study Circle in Old Rajinder Nagar here on July 27, triggering protests by students/civil services aspirants, demanding better safety measures at coaching centres and civic amenities in the area.
The top court was hearing the Coaching Federation of India’s appeal challenging the Delhi High Court’s direction on proliferation of coaching institutes in the Mukherjee Nagar area of Delhi and their failure to comply with the fire safety norms. Rejecting the appeal, it imposed costs of Rs 1 lakh on the federation.
Monday’s development came three days after the Delhi High Court ordered a CBI probe into the death of three civil services aspirants.
“Having regard to the nature of the incident and to ensure that the public has no doubt with regard to the investigation, this court transfers the probe to the CBI,” a Bench led by Delhi High Court Acting Chief Justice Manmohan had said on Friday, transferring the probe into the case from the Delhi Police to the CBI.
The high court had asked the Central Vigilance Commission to appoint a senior officer to oversee the CBI probe and had pulled up the Delhi Police and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi over the drowning incident, saying it was unable to fathom how the students could not come out and sought to know if the doors were blocked or staircases were narrow.
Emphasising the need to have a relook at Delhi’s administrative, financial and physical infrastructure, the Bench had set up a committee headed by the Chief Secretary to deal with it.
Spell out stand
A Bench led by Justice Surya Kant asked the Arvind Kejriwal government and the Union Urban Development Ministry to spell out their stand on proper guidelines and safety norms for coaching institutes
