Observing that there can be no compromise on the issue of safety of students, the Delhi High Court Tuesday said coaching centres in the city not conforming to statutory requirements under the Delhi Master Plan, 2021 will have to be shut down. As the counsel representing an association of coaching centres claimed they are complying with the norms, the high court said it is for the authorities to see whether they are compliant or not.

There can be no compromise on the issue of safety of students, a bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Sanjeev Narula said. The court was hearing a batch of petitions related to the operations of coaching centres in Mukherjee Nagar, a coaching hub for government job aspirants. The petitions included the one in which the high court has initiated proceedings on its own after taking cognisance of a fire incident in the northwest Delhi neighbourhood in June.

The high court also allowed two separate impleadment applications filed by residents of Mukherjee Nagar and Coaching Federation of India. They are impleaded as parties and are free to file response in the matter. Coaching Federation of India is required to be heard as consequential orders are required to be passed qua them, it said.

The federation also filed a petition seeking a review of the high court’s July 25 order by which the city authorities were directed to close down all coaching centres operating here without no-objection certificate from the fire services department. The high court said copies of the review plea be supplied to all the parties who are free to file replies to it.

It also asked the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), the state government and SHO of Mukherjee Nagar police station to file their status reports in the matter within four weeks. Our order is very clear. If a coaching centre is not conforming to MPD 2021, it has to be shut down. It is for them (authorities) to see if you are compliant of MPD 2021, norms or not, the bench said and listed the matter for further hearing on November 23.

During the hearing, the counsel for the federation acknowledged that the safety of students is of paramount importance. Standing counsel Santosh Kumar Tripathi and lawyer Arun Panwar represented the Delhi government and Delhi Fire Services. In a status report, the Delhi Police had informed the court that of the 583 coaching institutes running in the national capital, only 67 have no-objection certificates (NOC) from the Delhi Fire Services.

The court had asked the police, the fire services department and other authorities to provide all logistical support to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) to comply with the order within 30 days. The Delhi government counsel had earlier said the status reports revealed that more than 95 per cent coaching centres did not have a fire safety certificate from the department despite it being a statutory requirement.

Delhi Fire Services, in its status report, said it conducted a survey of 461 coaching centres and found that the requisite fire preventive and safety measures, as per the Delhi Fire Service Act and its rules, had not been adopted. On June 16, the high court took cognisance of a fire incident at a coaching institute in Mukherjee Nagar the previous day.

Taking note of a news report that showed students of the institute smashing windows and climbing down ropes in a desperate attempt to escape, the high court had asked the local authorities to file status reports.

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI)