Delhi HC orders CBI probe into coaching centre deaths

New Delhi, Aug 2: The Delhi High Court on Friday ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to take over the probe into the deaths of three UPSC aspirants in the city's Old Rajendra Nagar on July 27.

A bench, headed by Acting Chief Justice (ACJ) Manmohan, ordered the formation of a committee consisting of the Delhi Chief Secretary, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) Vice Chairman, the MCD Chairman, and the Commissioner of Police to re-look into the administrative, physical, and financial infrastructure of the national capital.

The bench, also comprising Justice Tushar Rao Gedela, 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.

On July 31, the high court had summoned the Commissioner of Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) and the investigating officer (IO) on the next date of hearing. It had also raised eyebrows over the "freebie culture", observing that the city government was left with no money to upgrade infrastructure.

"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 the infrastructure?" it remarked.

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".

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

Last week, 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.