New Delhi:

The Supreme Court on Friday directed a Union government-appointed committee probing the death of three civil services aspirants in the basement of a coaching centre in Delhi in July to submit an interim report about the measures it wanted to be taken to prevent the 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 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 Mr Venkataramani. The top government law officer said the interim report will be submitted within that period.

The court said the panel can consider intervention at legislative, policy, and administrative levels, and can seek 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 would be covering the “wider canvas” and would examine the issue at the 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, Delhi, as also the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) to apprise the court of steps they proposed to take to prevent such incidents in future.

The bench clarified that the proceedings before the top 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 had observed that coaching centres have become “death chambers” and were 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 which 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 death 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. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has sealed at least 13 coaching centres in Delhi’s Old Rajinder Nagar after three civil service aspirants died in the flooding of the basement of a coaching institute in the same area.

The action by the civic body, which continued till late Sunday night, came after three students – Tania Soni, Shreya Yadav and Navin Delvin – were killed when water suddenly gushed into the basement of Rau’s IAS Study Circle on Saturday evening.

The coaching centres that were sealed included IAS Gurukul, Chahal Academy, Plutus Academy, Sai Trading, IAS Setu, Topper’s Academy, Dainik Samvad, Civils Daily IAS, Career Power, 99 Notes, Vidya Guru, Guidance IAS, and Easy for IAS.

“These coaching centres were found to be operating in basements in violation of rules and they were sealed on the spot and notices were pasted,” an order by MCD Mayor Shaili Oberoi said.

The Rau’s IAS Study Circle was already sealed by the police and its owner and the coordinator have been arrested and charged with culpable homicide.

Delhi Coaching Centre Deaths

Tania Soni, Shreya Yadav — both aged 25 — and Navin Delvin, 28 when water gushed into Rau’s IAS Study Circle’s basement – being used as a library in violation of rules.

Several other students were trapped in the waterlogged basement and were rescued after a seven-hour-long operation.

Tanya, who had come from Telangana, was a native of Bihar’s Aurangabad and a student of Delhi University, according to reports. She had been staying at a women’s hostel of Delhi University’s Maharaja Agrasen College and had taken admission to the coaching institute one and a half months ago.

Shreya Yadav was a native of Uttar Pradesh’s Ambedkar Nagar. She earlier used to stay at a PG Hostel in west Delhi’s Shadipur area and had taken admission to the coaching institute two months ago. She had done her BSc in agriculture from a college in Uttar Pradesh.

Nevin, from Ernakulam in Kerala, was pursuing PhD in Arts and Aesthetics from Jawaharlal Nehru University. He had joined the coaching institute eight months ago but had been staying in rented accommodation near the university in the Vasant Kunj area.

How Delhi Coaching Centre Put Lives In Danger

The investigations so far have indicated multiple lapses on the part of the coaching centre’s owner and civic authorities.

The Rau’s IAS Study Circle centre got a No-Objection Certificate from the Municipal Corporation of Delhi in August 2021. The certificate, accessed by NDTV, underlines that the basement is for parking use and household storage.

The coaching centre for civil service aspirants got an NOC from the fire department earlier this month. This document, also accessed by NDTV, mentions that the building has complied with fire safety requirements. It adds that the basement should be used strictly as per building bye-laws.

The building bye-laws lay down that adequate arrangements shall be made to ensure surface drainage does not enter the basement. It also added that if the basement is used for office and commercial purposes, there should be a sufficient number of exit ways and access ways. In the case of the Rajinder Nagar coaching, there was only one entry/exit.

Even as the police are probing the cause behind the flooding, locals blame the poor drainage system in the area. They say it was heavily clogged with silt and overflowed leading to a flood-like situation following rains.

The coaching centre owner Abhishek Gupta and coordinator Deshpal Singh have been remanded the duo in 14 days of judicial custody.

Police have registered a case under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections 105 (culpable homicide), 106(1) (death of any person by doing any rash or negligent act not amounting to culpable homicide), 115(2) (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) and 290 (negligent conduct with respect to pulling down, repairing or constructing buildings).