The Supreme Court on Monday issued notices to the Centre, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana to examine the safety norms for coaching institutes as it took suo motu cognisance of the drowning of three civil service aspirants in the basement of an institute here.
The apex court said no coaching institute in the Delhi-NCR region should be allowed to operate unless there was meticulous compliance with safety measures and basic amenities were in place.
The bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan passed the directions while dismissing an appeal by the Coaching Federation of India challenging a December 14 judgment of Delhi High Court mandating all coaching centres in the Delhi-NCR region to strictly comply with the fire safety norms as stipulated under the Master Plan for Delhi, 2021, read with the Unified Building Byelaws for Delhi, 2016.
The court termed the petition “frivolous” and imposed a cost of ₹1 lakh on the association
“The president, general secretary and the treasurer of the Coaching Federation of India shall be personally responsible to deposit the cost amount... failing which the Registry is directed to register suo motu contempt proceedings against them after three weeks,” the bench said.
The apex court said the drowning of three young aspirants was an eye-opener for one and all. “We, therefore, deem it appropriate to expand the scope of these proceedings, suo motu, and issue notice to the ministry of housing and urban affairs, Union of India and NCT of Delhi through the chief secretary, to show cause as to what safety norms have been prescribed so far and, if so, what is the effective mechanism introduced to ensure their compliance.
“We would also invite suggestions from other stakeholders, especially the students, as to what stringent measures are required to be taken on short-term and long-term plan basis,” the apex court said.
Since a substantial part of the NCR falls within Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, both the states have been ordered to be impleaded as respondents. The matter will now be heard on September 20.
