The Delhi High Court was informed on Friday that the city government has constituted a high-powered committee to examine issues on students’ accommodation and their safety in the national capital and to recommend time-bound measures.
The submission was made during the hearing of a matter relating to the recent building collapse incident in the Satya Niketan area. Five students were among seven people who died in the collapse, while several others were injured. The Delhi Police, in its reply, has stated that six accused, including the owners of the Satya Niketan building which collapsed, failed to take adequate safety precautions during construction or repair work, creating a situation that endangered human lives and ultimately caused deaths.
A bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia was informed by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) that immediately after the September 6 collapse incident, the matter was taken up at the highest executive level of the civic body. The building at Satya Niketan, which housed a boys’ paying-guest accommodation near the Delhi University’s South Campus, collapsed on September 6 while repair work was underway. The MCD’s affidavit was filed in a pending PIL by law student Aniket Kumar Gupta, seeking urgent medical care and rehabilitation of the affected students, ₹ 1 crore compensation to the kin of the deceased and preservation of crucial evidence relating to the collapse.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Delhi government, MCD and the Delhi Police, said five officers across the entire supervisory chain of the municipal corporation, including a deputy commissioner, were placed under suspension and also gave details of other steps and actions taken by the authorities. The MCD, in its affidavit, said the Delhi government has constituted a magisterial inquiry into the incident to examine issues, including the validity of permissions, compliance with building bye-laws and the role of the concerned officials.
