The Delhi high court on Monday directed the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) to conduct an inquiry at the highest executive level into the collapse of the building at Satya Niketan, observing that the incident is “unfortunate” and could have been avoided had the authorities been alive to the statutory duty cast upon them.
A bench of chief justice DK Upadhyaya and justice Tejas Karia further directed that the inquiry shall specifically ascertain whether the collapsed building had been constructed pursuant to valid and requisite permissions, identify the officers responsible for any lapse or failure on the part of the authorities, and specify the action, if any, proposed or taken against the officials found responsible for such lapses.
'DU, MCD also responsible': Delhi HC
The court observed that prima facie, responsibility for such mishaps does not lie solely with the owner of the PG hostel but also extends to the university authorities and the MCD, which is responsible for ensuring that all construction and development in Delhi complies with building bye-laws and other applicable regulations.
Such incidents could be the result of inadequate measures by the MCD and other concerned authorities, the court said.
‘Could have been avoided if…’: Delhi HC
{{/usCountry}}Such incidents could be the result of inadequate measures by the MCD and other concerned authorities, the court said.
‘Could have been avoided if…’: Delhi HC
{{/usCountry}}“The reported incident is not only unfortunate but it evokes deep concern about inadequate housing facilities in terms of hostel run by the DU/Delhi govt, not so adequate measures by the authorities to run such PG hostels. The responsibility prima facie in our opinion for such mishaps do not lie solely on the owner of PG hostel but the responsibility goes to the university authorities and MCD which is responsible to ensure that every single development in Delhi such as construction of building is carried out as per building bye laws or other regulations regulating such developments. It is not difficult to think that such mishaps are the result of inadequate measure deployed by MCD and other authorities. Had the authorities been alive to the duties casted on them statutorily, this could have been avoided,” the court said.
The order was passed while the court was hearing a petition filed by Aniket Kumar Gupta, who sought directions for a fair and comprehensive investigation into the collapse, including an examination of the roles of the owner, contractor, builder, architect, structural engineer and workers.
Gupta in his petition also sought constitution of a committee to ascertain the exact cause of the collapse and determine whether the building was constructed in accordance with the sanctioned plan, whether any unauthorised construction or structural alterations had been carried out, whether recent renovation work contributed to the collapse, and whether the premises were being legally used as a paying guest (PG) accommodation or hostel.
The petition further sought compensation of ₹1 crore for the next of kin of each deceased victim, besides such other appropriate compensation as may be determined.
The court during the hearing directed the MCD to conduct, within one week, a comprehensive inspection of all PG accommodations under its jurisdiction to ascertain whether they are being operated in compliance with requisite permissions and applicable building bye-laws, and to determine the number of students residing in each PG.
The bench observed that such PG accommodations are not only hazardous but also pose a serious threat to students’ lives, particularly due to inadequate number of hostels in the capital.
“PG’s are not only very dangerous, They are causing threat to the lives of students. This is due to lack of the number. In Delhi students from all over the coney come to Delhi, even for humanities. You need to double down the efforts to provide hostels. Many colleges does not have hostels. DU runs hardly two to three hostels. There is very very pathetic situation so far as the situation of hostel in Delhi is concerned,” the bench said.
The court besides these directions asked MCD to file an affidavit if there is statutory or executive regulations regulating PG hotels in Delhi. DU has been asked to file an affidavit to indicate as to how many outstation students are admitted in the colleges affiliated to it and how many hostels are being run by the varsity or the government.
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Next hearing on Sep 25
The matter will be heard next on September 25.
The counsel for Centre, Delhi police, Delhi government and MCD SG Tushar Mehta submitted that the authorities will not leave any stone unturned so far as rescue operations is concerned. The government was actively monitoring the situation and it will take all decisions in the interest everyone concerned, Mehta said.
A five-storey building in Satya Niketan, which housed Delhi University students, collapsed on Sunday, killing at least seven people, injuring five others and leaving an unknown number feared trapped under the debris. The incident has once again raised concerns over Delhi’s ageing infrastructure, weak regulatory enforcement and the lack of an effective monitoring mechanism to prevent building-code violations.
According to police, renovation work was underway on the ground floor of the paying guest accommodation, known as Hostel Daze, when the structure collapsed at around 1.30pm. Officers said the building was estimated to be 40–50 years old.
Investigators arrested the owner of the property, Hariram Gupta, 81, a Gurugram resident. Police registered an FIR against Gupta and unidentified others under sections 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 290 (negligent conduct in pulling down, repairing or constructing buildings) and 125 (act endangering the life or personal safety of others) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) at South Campus police station.
Delhi chief minister Rekha Gupta ordered a magisterial inquiry into the building collapse.