SC says coaching centres have become 'death chambers'; issues notices to Centre, Delhi govt

New Delhi: Coaching centres have become "death chambers" and are playing with the lives of students, the Supreme Court said on Monday as it issued notices to the Centre and the Delhi government on three IAS aspirants drowning in the basement of an institute here.

Taking suo motu cognisance of the matter, a bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan said the incident was an eye-opener for all.

On July 27, three civil services aspirants drowned in the basement library of Rau's IAS Study Circle in the Old Rajinder Nagar area here after it was flooded following heavy rain.

Seven people, including Rau's IAS Study Circle CEO Abhishek Gupta and coordinator Deshpal Singh, have been arrested in the case.

"This is horrible what we are reading. If need be, we will even close down these coaching centres. For the time being, the coaching should go online, unless there is meticulous compliance of building regulations and other safety norms.

"These places (coaching centres) have become death chambers. Coaching centres are playing with the lives of these aspirants who have come from different parts of the country with dreams and are working hard," the bench said.

"The recent unfortunate incident which took away lives of three young aspirants who joined the coaching centres for their career is an eye-opener for one and all. We, therefore, deem it appropriate to expand the scope of proceedings and issue notice to the Centre and the NCT of Delhi to show cause as to what safety norms have been prescribed so far and what is the effective mechanism evolved to ensure compliance," he said.

The top court took cognisance of the matter while hearing a petition filed by an association of coaching centres challenging a December 2023 Delhi High Court order which had directed the city's fire services and the civic body to inspect all coaching centres here to ascertain if they are complying with the fire safety norms.

Terming the plea frivolous, the apex court dismissed the appeal while imposing a cost of Rs 1 lakh on the association and said no coaching centre should be allowed to operate unless there is compliance with fire safety norms and other requirements.

On Friday, the high court transferred the probe into the deaths of the three students from Delhi Police to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) "to ensure the public has no doubt over the investigation".

The three who died were Shreya Yadav (25) of Uttar Pradesh, Tanya Soni (25) from Telangana and Nevin Delvin (24) from Kerala.

Students enrolled in various coaching institutes have been protesting since the incident, demanding improved safety measures at coaching centres.