SC Directs High-Level Committee To Submit Interim Measures Following Death Of IAS Aspirants In Flooded Delhi Coaching Centre

The Supreme Court today directed a high-level committee, appointed by the Union government, to submit interim measures within four weeks to prevent incidents similar to the July tragedy where three civil services aspirants lost their lives after the basement library of a coaching centre in Old Rajendra Nagar, Delhi, flooded during heavy rain.

The Court was hearing a Special Leave Petition (SLP) filed by the Coaching Federation of India challenging a Delhi High Court's order dated December 14, 2023. The Division Bench had directed all the coaching and tuition centres to mandatorily require compliance of fire NOCs and fire safety certificates in terms of the Master Plan for Delhi 2021, read with the safety norms for buildings/structures prescribed in Delhi.

The Bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan also directed the governments of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Delhi to inform the Court of the policy, legislative, and administrative changes they have made or plan to implement to avert similar tragedies.

The Bench emphasized that a uniform set of initiatives should be applied across the National Capital Region (NCR) to prevent another such incident. “If the need arises, we will pass pan-India directions to ensure that tragedies like Old Rajendra Nagar do not recur,” the Bench observed during the hearing.

The incident occurred on July 27, 2024, when three IAS aspirants, Shreya Yadav (25) from Uttar Pradesh, Tanya Soni (25) from Telangana, and Nevin Delvin (24) from Kerala, drowned after the basement of Rau's IAS Study Circle in Old Rajendra Nagar was inundated following torrential rainfall. The tragic event sparked nationwide outrage and protests by students demanding better safety measures in coaching centres.

At the outset, the Counsel for the petitioner Federation informed the Bench that the Rs.1 lakh cost has been deposited as directed by the Bench on the last hearing.

During the hearing, Attorney General (AG) R. Venkataramani appeared for the Union. He told the Bench that on July 30, the Home Ministry had constituted a committee, particularly in regard to what happened in Delhi.

The AG submitted, "Let me have a deliberation with the committee as early as possible, and then anybody who wants to put in their recommendation and put that in, including private parties. We will try to expand the areas of consideration."

On being asked how many meetings have been constituted by the Committee, the AG responded, "Only one meeting has taken place."

Accordingly, the Court posted the matter for further hearing after four weeks.

Pertinently, on August 5, the Bench had taken suo motu cognizance to look into the fire safety norms that are being adhered to by buildings and coaching institutes in the national capital region. The Bench had expressed displeasure over the filling of the present SLP and had said, "You want us to intervene in a simple order, where some requirements of fire safety norms, as per the Master Plan, are there. You don't want to comply with that?"

The Court had also imposed a cost of Rs. 1 lakh on the petitioner. "The Rs. 50,000 amount shall be deposited with the... and the rest Rs. 50,000 to be deposited with the Supreme Court Bar Employees Association," the Court had ordered.