- By Nidhi Giri
- Mon, 05 Aug 2024 12:33 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
UPSC Aspirants' Deaths: The Supreme Court on Monday took suo moto cognisance of the death of three UPSC aspirants in Delhi's Old Rajinder Nagar due to the flooding of the basement of Rau's IAS Study Circle last month and issued notice to the Centre and Delhi government. During the hearing, the bench slammed the authorities for failing to regulate coaching centres, terming them "death chambers" and accusing them of "playing with the lives of children".
"Coaching centres playing with lives of aspirants who have come from different parts of country. Incident was an eye opener, no institute should be allowed to operate unless they comply with safety norms," said the top court.
The apex court directed the Centre and Delhi government to list the prescribed safety norms in coaching institute. It also sought the Centre and state government's response on the effective mechanism introduced to ensure its compliance.
"These places have become death chambers. Coaching institutes can operate online unless there is full compliance of safety and basic norms for a dignified life. Coaching centres are playing with the lives of aspirants..." Justice Surya Kant and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan said.
The Coaching Federation of India filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging a Delhi high court order of December 2023. The order mandated fire No Objection Certificate (NOC) and fire safety certificate as per the safety norms prescribed under the Unified Building Bye Laws 2016.
While hearing the petition, the court said, “Safety norms require proper ventilation, safety passage, air and light, fire safety norms and such other requirements prescribed under law.”
IAS aspirants Shreya Yadav from Uttar Pradesh, Tanya Soni from Telangana and Navin Dalwin from Kerala died after the basement of Rau's IAS Study Circle, being used as a library, got flooded due to rains in the national capital on July 27.
In a major crackdown a few days back, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) took action against properties for violations of building bylaws and sealed two basements for illegally operating as coaching centres in the national capital. The civic body sealed the two basements in the Shahdara South Zone and Najafagarh Zone, according to a statement. The MCD has also issued show cause notices to the coaching centres and property owners for misuse of property and violation of building bylaws in all the zones.