A magisterial probe conducted in the Delhi coaching centre incident that claimed.
The lives of three UPSC aspirants has accused the officials of MCD’s building and work department of allowing Rau’s IAS Study Circle to operate a library in the basement without any proper drainage facility.
In the report submitted to the Revenue Department on Wednesday, the probe stated that the “owners and management of RAU’s IAS Study Circle were also responsible for the criminal negligence by indulging in dangerous misuse of the basement without regard to the lives of the students.”
The probe revealed that the “violation of rules” in the building was noticed before the July 27 incident by officials of MCD and the Fire Department. However, they took no action against the owner.
The report highlighted that the building where the coaching centre was housed had permissions for “office/business” use, for which no fire “NOC” was required.
However, as it was used for “educational purposes,” the building required a “No Objection Certificate” from the fire department.
Earlier in 2023, following a fire engulfing a coaching centre in Mukherjee Nagar, the civic body issued a notice citing “misuse” of property.
“The failure to seal the basement after the issue of the misuse notice and not even mentioning the same in the show cause notice and misleading the deputy commissioner of the factual field position of misuse appears to be deliberate misconduct with malafide intentions on the part of the concerned engineers of the building department of MCD,” the report was quoted by news agency PTI in its report.
The Fire Department also neglected to report the “misuse” of the building’s basement as a library to the MCD during an inspection on July 1 this year, it said.
“The fire department should not have granted a fire safety certificate dated 9.7.2024 concealing the misuse of the basement as a library in violation of the building by-laws provisions of MPD-2021. This is a serious lapse on the part of the fire services inspection team,” the report noted.
It also accused MCD officials of encroachment on stormwater and a lack of desilting.
The report mentioned that the drains in the area had not been desilted for the past five years, in spite of being prone to waterlogging because of their low-lying location.
Delhi’s Revenue Minister ordered a magisterial probe, and the preliminary report in this regard was submitted on July 29.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has taken over the case following the Delhi High Court’s August 2 order.