Death of UPSC aspirants | Investigate problems of coaching centres across India, accidents in Delhi can happen anywhere: Supreme Court to Centre

When listening to the your drive Fall from the tragic Flooding in Old Rajinder Nagar, Delhiin which three students were killed, the Supreme Court today suggested that the Union of India should look at the matter from an all-India perspective.

The matter was heard before a panel of judges. Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyanwho made the suggestion Attorney General for India R. Venkataramani, taking into account the latter's statements that the Indian Home Ministry had set up a commission to investigate the incident in Delhi.

To recap, the petition was filed by the Coaching Federation of India against a December 2023 judgment of the Delhi High Court which issued a set of directions to effectively regulate the conduct of inspections in all coaching centres.

Since it was deemed void, the Supreme Court dismissed the suit with a fee of Rs 100,000. However, it ruled that your drive Taking note of the larger problem regarding safety of coaching centres, the court asked the Union Government and Delhi Government to show the safety norms prescribed and the effective mechanism put in place.

Today's hearing began with the applicant's counsel, the association, informing the court that costs of Rs 100,000 have been deposited. Thereafter, the Attorney General informed that the Government of India has constituted a committee to investigate the Old Rajinder Nagar incident.

In his response to the Attorney General’s opinion, Judge Kant said: “The unfortunate incident occurred in Delhi, but this problem can also occur in [several parts]… in fact, we will ultimately have to deal with this issue in due course … you could think about extending this to the whole of India.”

The judge told the ASG that the committee should approach the problems from three perspectives – legislative, political and administrative.

At one point the AG noted: “The lack of vigilant enforcement is the reason why everything goes wrong”However, Judge Kant stressed that deficiencies in implementation can only be taken into account if the regulatory measures themselves are sufficient.

“Assuming your regulatory measures are well placed, it can be said that there are deficiencies in implementation. Sometimes, no matter what is proposed now, the structures are not designed for this type of activity. So there is an obvious lack in the regulations themselves. How can non-residential activities be allowed in residential areas, for example? That is the enforcement part.”

In his decision, the judge noted that the committee was set up to examine the following issues:

(i) the causes of the unfortunate incident which occurred at Old Rajinder Nagar, Delhi;

(ii) the persons responsible for the incident;

(iii) the measures to be taken to prevent such incidents in the future;

(iv) Appropriate changes to the political system and proposals for such changes, if appropriate.

In particular, a counsel for the interveners (residents of Old Rajinder Nagar) informed that the Supreme Court had constituted a task force comprising MCD and Fire Department, which had submitted status reports. However, the task force has ceased to function as the matter subordinate jurisdiction before the Supreme Court. It was requested that the Task Force be directed to continue filing status reports.

In view of the foregoing, the Court ordered the Task Force to continue its work notwithstanding the pendency of the present case.

In addition, the court also asked the states of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to submit situation reports and direct the states concerned on the measures they have taken to prevent incidents like the one in Delhi. Haryana and Uttar Pradesh are to inform the court on the legislative and policy measures taken by them and the regulatory mechanisms to prevent such incidents.

The Delhi Development Authority has also been asked to comment on any action taken in this regard.

It was further directed that the States/UT UP, Haryana and NCT Delhi should assist the committee constituted by the Government of India. “to ensure a unified initiative in NCR for appropriate coordination between different agencies and the [development] authorities.”

Finally, while the court did not admit any of the interveners as parties, it permitted the father of a student who was a victim of the Old Rajinder Nagar incident to appear as an intervener in the matter. However, the petitioners were given liberty to make their suggestions to the committee through the office of the Attorney General.

For his part, the Attorney General assured that the Committee would present the urgent interim measures within four weeks.

Case Title: COACHING FEDERATION OF INDIA v. GOVERNMENT OF NCT OF DELHI AND ORS., Diary No. 30149-2024