Coaching centre deaths: Time for administration to awake from deep slumber, says HC

It is time for the administration to wake up from "deep slumber" and take appropriate steps to address the condition of city's coaching centres, the Delhi High Court has said, while granting interim bail till November 30 to four co-owners of the basement of an Old Rajinder Nagar building that housed a coaching centre where three civil services aspirants drowned in July.

Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma, in the order passed on 13 September on the bail applications of the accused, lamented the administration's "callous attitude", saying said such "incidents keep on happening" and innocent people lose their lives because of "mischievous people" who only want to earn money.

Children from across the country come to the capital for their education and it is unfortunate that coaching centre owners have no care for such innocent lives, the judge said in the order released on the court's website.

Justice Sharma urged the lieutenant governor (LG) to appoint a committee, preferably under a former judge of the high court, to inspect all coaching centres and give suggestions to ensure that they do not run in unsafe buildings or unsafe conditions.

The committee may include other responsible officers and vice-chairman of the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) in order to explore the possibility of having such institutions in "one newly developed institutional area with all the modern amenities and civic facilities", added the court, as it sought a report from the proposed committee in three months.

"The present incident in which three young bright students lost their lives is very unfortunate and is an alarm bell. This court earlier also has flagged the issue of running of unauthorised coaching centres, but unfortunately the civic authorities have failed to take any action," the court said.

Parents of such students send their children to the coaching institute shelling out substantial money from their hard earned income with an aspiration that their children will become something in their lives, it said.

"It is unimaginable that the parents get back the dead bodies of their children on account of such an unfortunate incident. The court considers that the time has come that now the administration has to awake from the deep slumber and has to take appropriate steps," added the court.

With the aim to create a corpus to deal with such incidents, the court directed the four basement co-owners to deposit Rs 5 crore, in one go or in instalments, till 30 November, with the Red Cross Society.

The LG shall ensure that the funds are used for the welfare of students and streamlining the functioning of coaching centres, the court said, adding he may also take a decision on providing compensation to the families of the deceased.

"The students from all parts of the country come to this capital city for education/coaching. They have no option but to adjust to these unhygienic and bad conditions. Though no steps are being taken despite several directions but it does not mean that court will stop giving such directions. The courts will ensure that concrete steps are taken for the redressal of the system," said the court, while adding that it cannot be a "mute spectator".

Three civil service aspirants -- Shreya Yadav (25) from Uttar Pradesh, Tanya Soni (25) from Telangana and Nevin Delvin (24) from Kerala -- died after the basement of the building housing Rau's IAS Study Circle was flooded following heavy rain in central Delhi's Old Rajinder Nagar on 27 July.

The co-owners of the basement had sought bail on the ground that they are merely the landlords of the basement which was let out on rental basis to the coaching centre and, therefore, they had no role whatsoever in the unfortunate event.

In the order, the court asserted that the case was "very serious" and the petitioners cannot be deemed to not have knowledge that letting out their premises for commercial purpose may be dangerous.

"At this stage at least one thing is on record that the petitioners let out the basement for commercial purposes and the unfortunate incident, in which three young persons lost their lives, took place on account of flooding in the basement. Prima facie, the petitioners cannot be deemed to not have the knowledge that such activity may be dangerous. Such an inappropriate act should never be allowed to be profitable business," observed the court.

The court said there are allegations of corruption and a wholesome investigation was required into the role of the present petitioners, owners of the RAU's IAS Study Circle and other public officials.

Maintaining that detention during trial cannot be a punitive measure, the court said the accused were in custody since 28 July and the probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is required to be conducted expeditiously.

"At the moment taking into account the period of detention on one hand and other attendant circumstances on the other hand, and also the fact that the investigation is yet to be conducted, this court considers that the petitioners may be admitted to interim bail till 30.11.2024," the court concluded.

In its order, the court noted that as per the CBI, there was "moderate rainfall" of 58 mm in the locality in the evening of the incident and the drains of the road were not functional. The repair work was started by the civic body only in the month of August.

The CBI also said IIT Delhi will provide data regarding the water pressure on the gates of the building where waterlogging happened, it recorded.