New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Friday transferred the probe into the drowning of three civil services aspirants at the basement of a coaching centre here from Delhi Police to the CBI "to ensure the public has no doubt over the investigation". A bench headed by Acting Chief Justice Manmohan asked the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) to appoint a senior officer to oversee the probe by the CBI in the criminal case.
"Having regard to the nature of the incident and to ensure that the public has no doubt with regards to investigation, this court transfers the probe to the CBI," the court said. It castigated the police and Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) over the drowning incident, saying it was unable to fathom how the students could not come out and sought to know whether the doors were blocked or staircases narrow.
The bench, also comprising Justice Tushar Rao Gedela, said administratively Delhi has a multiplicity of authorities which are only passing the buck and doing nothing. The public perception is that civic authorities are inefficient, the bench said. It said physical infrastructure in Delhi is nearly 75-year-old and they are not only inadequate but poorly maintained.
On being informed by the MCD commissioner, who was present in the court, that the stormwater drains in the area were dysfunctional, the bench asked why didn't the officials inform the MCD chief about it earlier. The bench also ordered the removal of encroachments and unauthorised constructions, including on stormwater and sewage drains, in the Rajinder Nagar area.
It said MCD officials are not bothered and it has become a norm. The court said with the rise in Delhi's population, the city needs a robust system and due to various subsidy schemes, the migration in the national capital is also increasing. It is time to have a relook at Delhi's administrative, financial and physical infrastructure, the bench said and formed a committee headed by the chief secretary to deal with the issue.
Slamming the police, the high court said, "Mercifully, you have not challaned rainwater for entering into the basement, the way you arrested the SUV driver for driving his car there." Manuj Kathuria was accused of driving his SUV through the street that was flooded by rainwater on July 27, causing the water to swell and breach the gates of the three-storey building housing the coaching centre and inundate the basement, where the three students were killed.
