Delhi HC directs closing down coaching centres operating without no-objection certificate

New Delhi, July 26 (IANS) The Delhi High Court on Tuesday directed city authorities to close down all coaching centres operating without a no-objection certificate from the Fire Services Department.

 A division bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Saurabh Banerjee was hearing clubbed petitions regarding the operations of coaching centres in Mukherjee Nagar, a coaching hub for government job aspirants.

In June, after a fire broke out at the Sanskriti Coaching Centre in the area, the high court took suo motu cognisance of the matter.

The bench, holding that fire safety is a "must", ruled that all coaching centres are required to comply with their statutory requirements under the Delhi Master Plan, 2021, and other applicable regulations.

The Delhi Police, through its status report, has informed the court that out of the 583 coaching institutes running in the national capital, only 67 have no-objection certificates (NOC) from the Delhi Fire Services.

At this, the bench said: "If a coaching centre is not conforming with the master plan provisions, it is to be shut down. There is no other alternative."

It directed the respondents -- Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and Delhi government -- to close down coaching centres which do not have fire NOCs. For the order to be complied with within 30 days, the court asked the police, the Fire Services Department and other authorities to provide all logistical support to the MCD.

It added that the MCD shall take action against structures other than coaching centres that are not complying.

Delhi government’s standing counsel Santosh Kumar Tripathi said that according to the status reports, 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 has said that 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 the court asking the Delhi government counsel to close such institutes, it was informed that the Fire Services Department does not have the power to do so and added that the action has to be taken by the MCD.

The MCD’s counsel said action has been taken and even sealing orders issued to those in violation of the regulations.

"Those who are not having fire NOC or (operating) as per MPD (Master Plan for Delhi) will have to be closed down. Statutory provisions under MPD certainly permit coaching centres subject to conditions and fire safety is a must," the court said.

The Delhi government counsel submitted that some time may be given to coaching centres to obtain fire certificates as their closure can hamper the academic interests of the students.

The court has now put up the matter for next hearing on October 10.

On June 16, the court had issued a notice to the Fire Service, Police and MCD. A vacation bench of Justices Jasmeet Singh and Vikas Mahajan had directed the Delhi Fire Service to conduct a fire safety audit and to check whether fire safety certificates were issued or not and sought a response within two weeks, in the suo motu case.

The incident at the coaching centre hsd left over 60 students injured.

Meanwhile, the court had asked the authorities to examine the safety status of similar institutes in the national capital. Scores of students from various coaching centres had staged a protest and blocked the road, raising slogans and holding posters demanding justice.