No urgent listing of plea over demolition of adjacent one in Satya Niketan: Delhi HC

The Delhi high court on Monday declined to urgently hear a petition challenging the Municipal Corporation of Delhi’s (MCD) decision to demolish the building next to the one that collapsed in Satya Niketan last week.

This was after the petitioner’s lawyer urged a bench of chief justice DK Upadhyaya and justice Tejas Karia to list the petition on Monday saying that the demolition was carried out before all the debris from the collapsed building had been cleared; and there was a possibility that students could still have been trapped in the debris.

The court, however, refused to list the matter saying that MCD’s decision to demolish the adjacent building was based on a technical assessment or audit, and therefore did not agree to immediately list the petition.

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“What’s the source of the information that there are people below the debris? How do you know? They must’ve conducted some type of technical audit before deciding to demolish the adjoining building. No sorry. File it, it will be auto listed tomorrow. What’s so urgent? You should not file the petition just in air,” the bench said.

“What is the technical information available to you? How do you know? It’s all your guesswork, that there might be some people. You should have some basis for making such submissions. You file it, it will be auto listed”, it added.

A five-storey building in Satya Niketan, which housed Delhi University students, collapsed last Sunday, killing at least seven people and injuring five others.

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According to police, renovation work was underway on the ground floor of the paying guest accommodation, known as Hostel Daze, when the structure collapsed at around 1:30pm.

Officers said the building was estimated to be 40–50 years old.

Investigators arrested the owner of the property, Hariram Gupta, 81, a Gurugram resident.

Police registered a first information report (FIR) against Gupta and unidentified others under sections 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 290 (negligent conduct in pulling down, repairing or constructing buildings) and 125 (act endangering the life or personal safety of others) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) at South Campus police station.

Delhi chief minister Rekha Gupta ordered a magisterial inquiry into the building collapse.

Two days after the collapse, MCD had begun a controlled demolition, saying that the adjoining building was declared dangerous.