New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday pulled up authorities over the deaths of three UPSC aspirants who drowned in the basement of a coaching centre, saying such tragedies are bound to happen when there is no collection of taxes due to a "freebies culture".
The High Court hinted at asking a central agency to probe the incident and directed the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) commissioner, deputy commissioner of police concerned and the investigating officer of the case to appear before it on Friday.
A bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela said a "strange probe" was going on with Delhi Police taking action against a man who drove a car outside the coaching centre in Old Rajinder Nagar here but not acting against MCD officials.
"Have they lost it? What is Delhi Police doing? What are its officials doing? This is a cover up or what? Has some official been held accountable for the incident till now? We are telling you, once the responsibility is fixed on officials, no such incident will ever happen in future," the bench said.
It also directed the authorities to remove all encroachments on drains in the Rajinder Nagar area by Friday.
The High Court was hearing a plea seeking the constitution of a high-level committee to investigate the deaths of the three civil service aspirants on the evening of July 27.
The Court was also hearing a plea related to hundreds of libraries running in basements in the city.
