IAS coaching centre deaths: Delhi HC calls civic body a joke, summons MCD commissioner on Thursday

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday called the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) a joke and summoned the civic body commissioner on Thursday. In this incident, 3 IAS aspirants on Saturday died due to flooding of the basement of a coaching centre in Delhi's Old Rajinder Nagar area. 

A bench headed by Acting Chief Justice Manmohan directed the authorities to remove all encroachments on drains in the area by Friday. The court also hinted at transferring the probe in the case to a central agency. 

The High Court was hearing a plea filed by an NGO seeking a probe by a high- level committee into the incident and an investigation into coaching institutes running illegally.

The court also pulled up the Delhi Police on the probe and questioned them on why no one in the MCD has been arrested in connection with the Old Rajinder Nagar incident. A businessman Manuj Kathuria was arrested in connection with the drowning of 3 students in the coaching centre's basement. 

"Strange probe is going on. You are taking action against every passerby but not against MCD officials," the High Court bench said. Taking note of the apathy of the civic bodies, the High Court bench said it was bankrupt and could not even pay employees' salaries. 

Kathuria drove his SUV through the street, due to which the water swelled up and breached the gates of the coaching centre building and inundated the basement. The SUV was also seized.

In a jibe at the Kejriwal-led Delhi government, the court said that these incidents were bound to happen when taxes weren't being collected due to "freebies culture." "You want to have freebies culture, but don't want to collect taxes... this is bound to happen," the bench said.

The court also mentioned that multi-storey buildings were being allowed to operate in the area, which houses popular UPSC coaching institutes, but proper drainage was not there. 

Meanwhile, civil services aspirants are protesting against the July 27 incident for the fourth straight day in Old Rajinder Nagar. The protestors said that a 15-member coordination committee has been formed to decide the future course of action and communicate with the authorities concerned. 

DCP M Harsha Vardhan told newswire PTI, "On Tuesday, committee members formed by the students had met Delhi LG. I have also given them (students) information about what action has been taken, and how far the investigation has gone."

Besides Kathuria, four co-owners of basement of the building where the coaching centre was functioning were arrested. 3 students -- Shreya Yadav (25), Tanya Soni (25), and Nevin Dalvin (28) -- died in the incident after rain water gushed inside of basement of a coaching institute building in Old Rajinder Nagar on Saturday evening.