Delhi High Court came down heavily on Aam Aadmi Party-ruled Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and Delhi Police on 2nd August in response to a petition filed by students regarding the drowning of three civil service aspirants in the flooded basement of a coaching centre. The bench of ACJ Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gadela asked why the commissioner was not notified by MCD officials about the area’s malfunctioning stormwater drains. The court also slammed police for not questioning any official so far, and for instead arresting a passerby accusing him of creating waves with his car.
Unhappy with the police probe so far into the incident and the causes behind it, including the role of officials responsible for maintaining drains, the High Court transferred the case to CBI. The court cited the seriousness of the case and the possibility of corruption by public servants. The Delhi High Court also directed the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) to nominate a senior officer to oversee the CBI probe into the deaths of the Civil Services aspirants.
The bench also directed MCD commissioner to ensure that the drains in the area are functional and if their capacity has to be increased, the same should be done in a systematic manner at the earliest. The court ordered the removal of Encroachments and illegal constructions immediately.
The Court also said that there were serious issues plaguing the functioning of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) and added that the entire system would need a relook.
A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking the creation of a high-level committee to look into the deaths of UPSC candidates in the Old Rajender Nagar area was being heard by the high court. A petitioner’s attorney brought up the possibility that the Delhi Police was involved in the incident, emphasizing the role of a police chowki. The court conveyed that personnel not performing their duties must be informed that such behaviour will not be tolerated. The court stated that it has issued several instructions in a suo motu case, along with specific deadlines, yet the MCD has completely disregarded them.
“You keep on passing orders. These orders are not implemented. Their whole case is that there is an order that is not abided by. There is no respect in law by your department. This has gone too far. That can’t happen. You should have a robust mechanism where people should come to you and you should get feedback,” expressed ACJ Manmohan. “Your person supervising is not doing anything. He is not moving out of his office. What is the action against this man? If the portion of the drain was under repair, someone should have done something. Why was the officer not aware of all this? Everyone knew how hot summer had been. You need not be a scientist to know it would be heavy rainfall this monsoon,” the court further asked.
The court remarked that the staff at MCD believes they are above the law and no action would be taken against them. The bench questioned, “The water flooded, and now it is being told that the basement of that coaching centre was at a lower height than others. Then why was the building sanctioned? And even if it was, why there were no pumps? We are not engineers, even then we know it.”
The court also slammed the Delhi Police for not taking any immediate measures and noted, “You ask the people and MCD but then wait. Why are you powerless? You are the police you will get a response immediately. You do not know how to get files from the MCD office. You should be proactive. They are trained for all this. You think criminals will come to you and confess themselves? No, you will have to investigate.” It added, “Mercifully, you have not challaned rainwater for entering into the basement, the way you arrested the SUV driver for driving his car there,” while talking a jibe at the Delhi Police.
The court revealed that a student had written a complaint one month before the occurrence and five days later, DFS carried out an inspection after which they passed a certificate of clearance. “How come the basement which was for storage became a library in 25 days? How come,” it asked. The court pointed out, “We are not investigators. We are just asking you questions. The fact that statements of MCD officials are not recorded seems to be very glaring at first blush. Three people have lost their lives. And it’s becoming a norm, that MCD officials are not working.”
On the role of the Delhi Fire Service, the police told the court that the reply of the DFS was evasive. They said there was firefighting equipment in place. “We will proceed against them sir,” the Delhi Police Commissioner (DCP) said.
The court mentioned that there must be some responsibility and pointed out that certain organizations have traversed legal boundaries. It highlighted, “We have orders to show. I passed a judicial order in January saying that I would wind up MCD as they were not paying salaries to its employees. I got the money from them. That matter has been pending since 2017. Imagine, for seven years we were trying to control you. Your financial health is precarious. Whenever a building is sealed today due to unauthorised construction, its size increases. From two floors, it becomes five floors.”
The court voiced that their orders have been repeatedly ignored. “This is happening in 2024. I am not talking about some old times. Your sealing process is, you put some symbol and thread and say it’s sealed. Anyone can enter, exit and construct. We keep on passing orders, they keep on falling on deaf ears.” The bench conveyed that criminal procedure would be used to address the incident and the Central Bureau Of Investigation (CBI) would be brought in. “This requires a systematic approach. There is a larger malice in all this. This tragedy will have to be dealt with by way of criminal process. But the criminal process is also not very flawless. We’ll send it to CBI and get it monitored. As far as this is concerned, there is a problem with MCD.”
The court criticised the Delhi Police for not questioning MCD officials and for not collecting any documents. “Whom did you call from MCD? Which official have you called? You’ve not even called a minion. You’ve not taken care of the file. You know how they function. We see their files every day. We don’t know how their files change. Your officer should have gone on day one and get the file. It’s again a case of neglect which is chargeable.” Delhi Police issued an apology but placed the blame for the unfavourable impression on media reporting.
Slamming the Delhi police for not questioning MCD officers and arresting a driver instead, the court said, “You do not even have the audacity to call the MCD officials. Mercifully, you have not challaned the water and asked the water how it entered the basement. You arrested a driver. The MCD officers are responsible to desilt. If he does not do that, he must understand that this is criminal negligence.”
On the arrest of Manuj Kathuria for allegedly creating waves by driving on the flooded road, the court said, “How a person who was passing on the road arrested? This is not fair. The maximum someone deserves in this situation is an apology. Police is respected when you arrest the culprit and leave the innocent. If you arrest the innocent and leave the guilty, it would be very sad.” Notably, Kathuria was released yesterday on bail granted by district court after the magistrate court refused him bail a day earlier.
The court further chastised the Delhi administration of the Aam Aadmi Party for failing to hold any new programs and not having even one cabinet meeting in the previous few months. The court noted that no cabinet meeting has been held by the Delhi govt for months, and as a result, no new project has been cleared.
“Today any project you have to do is 5 crores. There is chaos in the standing committee. It has not been formed in the last year. Who is for Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD? What’s the next cabinet meeting date? The cabinet meeting has not happened in the last five or six months. No project is taking place. Imagine this is the administrative chaos we are dealing with here. We are going to dictate this order. When was the last cabinet meeting held and when is the next meeting? Let us know quickly.”
Due to these governance issues, the court ordered the constitution of a committee headed by the Delhi Chief Secretary to examine the financial and administrative set-up of Delhi and submit a report. The Committee will have Delhi Chief Secretary, DDA VC, Delhi Police Commissioner, and the Committee is directed to submit its report within eight weeks, the court directed.
The bench pronounced, “Whole Delhi infrastructure, physical and administrative, needs a relook.” The Delhi Police were told by the court not to give in to outside pressure and were instructed to carry out the inquiry in a scientific manner. The Delhi Police was also ordered by the court to give a detailed account of the circumstances, adding that it would be improper to do otherwise and drawing comparisons to a “brothers club” mentality.
The Delhi Police arrested the owner and the coordinator of Rau’s IAS Study Circle and charged them with culpable homicide after three students, Shreya Yadav (25) from Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad, Tanya Soni (25) of Telangana and Nevin Delvin (24) from Ernakulam in Kerala died in its flooded basement in Old Rajinder Nagar. According to officials, the tragic instance happened as a result of the basement being used for commercial activities against rules and the lack of a drainage system and safety precautions.
