Delhi HC to hear plea on Rajendra Nagar coaching centre incident on July 31

Delhi High Court is likely to hear tomorrow a plea seeking the constitution of a high-level committee to probe into the Rajendra Nagar incident that resulted in the death of 3 UPSC aspirants. The plea was mentioned before a bench of acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela by advocate Rudra Singh.

Shreya Yadav from Ambedkar Nagar in Uttar Pradesh, Tanya Soni from Telangana, and Navin Dalwin from Ernakulam in Kerala succumbed to death after the basement of a building housing the coaching institute was flooded after heavy rain on July 27. Police on July 28 arrested the owner and the coordinator of the coaching centre, Rau's IAS Study Circle. The police have booked them for culpable homicide and other charges.

According to the police investigation, the two main reasons for the incident are that civic authorities failed to clear the roadside drain before the onset of the monsoon and that, as Mint reported on July 29, there was no provision for draining out water in the basement where a library was running illegally.

The Delhi Police has formed multiple teams to investigate the real cause of the mishap.

The police informed that more than 35 people, including students and coaching centre staff, were stuck on July 28 when water started flowing into the basement after heavy rains.

According to a Mint report, an MCD official said that the institute's building completion certificate clearly states that the basement shall only be used for parking and storage. However, the library was running illegally in the basement, the official said.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on July 29 constituted a committee to probe the incident. The committee will look into the reasons, fix responsibility, suggest measures and recommend policy changes to avoid such incidents in future.

Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena had previously announced a compensation of ₹10 lakh each for the families of three civil services aspirants.