SC to Hear Satya Niketan Building Collapse Case on September 10

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday said it would consider on September 10 issues related to the Satya Niketan building collapse after a direction was sought for a time-bound inspection and safety audit of PG accommodations and other such establishments situated in and around colleges and universities across Delhi.

The apex court said if necessary, it may transfer the case already dealt with by the Delhi High Court.

On Monday, the High Court had ordered a high-level MCD inquiry into the incident and made it clear that the government cannot evade responsibility.

The top court, which is already dealing with issues related to unauthorized constructions in residential areas, fire safety and conversion of residential into commercial establishments in violation of norms across India, was urged to take up urgently the matter related to the Sunday incident, which left seven students dead.

A bench of Justices Ahsanuddin Amanullah and R Mahdevan on Tuesday said the issues dealt with by the high court are "serious" and overlap with the case already considered by the apex court on a pan-India basis.

"We have something in mind. We will consider this issue day-after-tomorrow. This is a serious issue. The issues dealt with by the high court are overlapping with one considered by this court on a pan-India basis," the bench said.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Delhi government, termed the incident as "most unfortunate" and said, "Our heart goes out to the children and the parents".

He brought to the notice of the court that the Delhi High Court was already hearing a PIL on the issue and placed on record the order passed on Monday.

At the outset, senior advocate Ajit Sinha, amicus curiae appointed in the matter considered by the apex court, said that, in view of the recent tragic incident, they have inspected the site along with a professor from IIT and MCD officials and filed a status report in this regard.

He urged the court to take up the matter urgently so that necessary directions can be passed with regard to allowing the court-appointed committee to conduct inspection beyond the areas presently identified by the court like Lajpat Nagar, Malviya Nagar and Saket in the national capital.

Sinha said the direction may be issued to authorities concerned to undertake a time-bound inspection and safety audit of PG accommodations, private hostels and similar student-accommodation establishments situated in and around colleges and universities across Delhi.

"Such exercise ought to include verification of: (i) sanctioned building plans; (ii) actual construction and number of floors; (iii) basement construction and alterations; (iv) permissible land use; (v) structural safety; (vi) fire-safety compliance; (vii) means of ingress and egress; and (viii) the existence of any dangerous or ruinous condition," he said in his status report.

The Delhi High Court had termed the incident "most unfortunate" and said such tragedies are a result of inadequate measures employed by the MCD and other authorities.

On Monday, the over 27-hour rescue operation at the Satya Niketan building collapse site here concluded with seven people dead and five injured. The building owner, his wife and son were arrested, while five MCD officials have been suspended.

The five-stored building housing a boys' paying guest accommodation near Delhi University's South Campus collapsed around 1.30 pm on Sunday.

In his status report, Sinha submitted that the court on March 25 while considering the case of illegal construction, blatant violation of building bye-laws and rules, regulations and inaction of the authorities in that case, also observed there were apparent widespread and blatant violations of building bye-laws and land use regulations.

Sinha said in this backdrop, this court was constrained to observe that the issue needs to be monitored on a pan-India basis and hence necessary directions were issued in the matter.

Elaborating on the incident of September 6, he said as per the information presently available, the property at Satya Niketan comprised an area of approximately 55 square yards and consisted of a basement and four floors above the ground floor.

The building was being used for accommodating students as a boys' Paying Guest (PG) accommodation under the name 'Hostel Daze'.

"The precise cause and circumstances leading to the collapse are presently under investigation. However, the preliminary material presently available indicates that construction-related work was being undertaken in or around the basement, and there were also reports of water logging in the basement immediately prior to the incident," he submitted.

Sinha said this court is already seized of the issue of unauthorised and unsafe constructions in Delhi and by order dated July 9 had constituted a committee for carrying out inspection of buildings in the areas of Lajpat Nagar, Saket and Malviya Nagar.

The exercise, however, was confined to the said areas and Satya Niketan did not fall within the scope of the inspection directed by this court and the inspection of the said areas was completed on September 3.

"During the course of the said inspection, the committee is stated to have found certain buildings situated in Saidulajab, Saket and Lajpat Nagar to be in a precarious and unsafe condition. The report of the committee is presently under preparation and is expected to be placed before this court shortly," he said.

He said the present incident is also required to be viewed in the context of an earlier building collapse in Satya Niketan in April 2022, in which two persons lost their lives and four others were injured.