The Supreme Court on August 5 took suo motu cognisance of the drowning of three ciivil services aspirants trapped in the flooded basement of their Rajinder Nagar coaching centre during a heavy bout of rain in Delhi.
“We are not sure as to what effective measures have been taken so far by the NCT of Delhi or the Union of India. The recent unfortunate incidents taking away lives of some of the young ones who joined coaching centres for their career pursuits are an eye opener for one and all,” a Bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan remarked.
Also read | The civil services dream: how Delhi maintains a pull on UPSC aspirants
The Bench issued for notice to the Centre through the Ministry of Urban Affairs and the Delhi government.
The authorities have been asked to bring on record the safety mechanism in place to prevent such deaths and to ensure that coaching centres in the national capital do not expose young lives to danger.
“Students come from all over the country to Delhi to study, and now they lose their lives?” Justice Kant asked, emphasising the seriousness of the issue at hand.
IAS aspirants deaths: Why are over 35,000 people drowning every year in India? | In Focus podcast
A few days ago, the Delhi High Court had transferred the probe into the three deaths to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The High Court had castigated the police and Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) over the drowning incident, saying it was unable to fathom how the students could not come out.
It has asked why MCD officials did not inform the commissioner about non-functioning stormwater drains in the area.
