Days after seven folks had been killed within the collapse of an illegally constructed constructing getting used as a paying visitor (PG) facility in Delhi’s Satya Niketan, the Supreme Courtroom on Tuesday (September 8, 2026) indicated that it could develop its court-monitored train in opposition to unlawful constructions and the unauthorised use of residential premises to look at the protection of scholar lodging throughout the nation.
A Bench of Justices Ahsanuddin Amanullah and R. Mahadevan mentioned it could take up the matter on Thursday (September 10, 2026) after the court-appointed amicus curiae sought a time-bound security audit of PG services, non-public hostels and different scholar lodging in and round faculties throughout Delhi.
Senior advocate Ajit Kumar Sinha, the court-appointed amicus curiae, informed the Bench that he had filed a recent standing report following the Satya Niketan constructing collapse. The report, he mentioned, raised “severe considerations” over current mechanisms for inspecting buildings, figuring out harmful buildings and implementing constructing bye-laws.
The report was filed in ongoing proceedings arising from a case in Tamil Nadu regarding development in violation of land-use norms and constructing bye-laws. In March, the apex courtroom had widened the scope of the proceedings and sought info from civic our bodies in a number of State capitals, together with Delhi, Lucknow, Jaipur, Chennai and Kolkata, on motion taken in opposition to related violations.
HC plea switch
On Tuesday, the Bench additionally turned down an oral request by Solicitor Common Tushar Mehta, showing for the Centre, the Municipal Company of Delhi (MCD) and the Delhi Police, to permit the Delhi Excessive Courtroom to individually proceed listening to a petition searching for a complete probe into the Satya Niketan incident. The Excessive Courtroom had on Monday (September 7, 2026) ordered an inquiry into the tragedy, and a security inspection of PG services beneath the MCD’s jurisdiction.
“No. This might need been taken up in the best earnest, however it’s overlapping. We’ll take it up. We have already got one thing in thoughts… It must be on a pan-India foundation,” Justice Amanullah orally remarked.
Whereas Mr. Mehta acknowledged that it was a “horrific” tragedy and that households had been grieving the lack of lives, notably of youngsters, he identified that the Excessive Courtroom was already cognisant of the incident and had taken it up “in the best earnest”.
The Bench, nevertheless, mentioned it could take up the matter on Thursday and indicated that it might thereafter contemplate transferring the proceedings pending earlier than the Excessive Courtroom to itself.
Security audit sought
The most recent standing report, filed by means of advocate-on-record Govind Jee, identified that whereas the Supreme Courtroom had already constituted a committee to examine buildings in Lajpat Nagar, Saket, and Malviya Nagar, Satya Niketan didn’t fall throughout the scope of the train.
It additionally referred to an earlier constructing collapse in Satya Niketan in April 2022, which killed two folks and injured 4 others. The recurrence of a deadly collapse in the identical locality, the report mentioned, raised considerations over the effectiveness of current inspection mechanisms.
The report accordingly urged the courtroom to increase the monitoring train throughout Delhi, notably to scholar lodging round universities and faculties. It identified that PG services and personal hostels usually function from residential properties which will have undergone “unauthorised additions”.
“The extent to which such premises adjust to sanctioned constructing plans, relevant constructing bye-laws, permissible land use, structural security necessities and fire-safety norms requires verification by the competent authorities,” the report acknowledged.
To underline the urgency of a wider inspection, the report additionally referred to motion taken by the MCD in opposition to an adjoining property at P-13, Satya Niketan. After discovering the constructing to be in a harmful situation, the civic physique on September 6 ordered its demolition throughout the stipulated interval beneath the Delhi Municipal Company Act. 5 MCD officers from the South Zone have additionally been suspended in reference to the Satya Niketan incident.
Whereas the exact reason for the Satya Niketan tragedy stays beneath investigation, the amicus curiae knowledgeable the courtroom that preliminary materials confirmed construction-related work in or across the basement and waterlogging instantly earlier than the incident.
He additionally knowledgeable the Bench that inspections undertaken by the court-appointed committee in Saket, Lajpat Nagar and Malviya Nagar concluded on September 3. The panel, comprising two senior Professors of the Indian Institute of Know-how and two draftsmen, assisted by MCD officers, is known to have recognized a number of buildings in Saidulajab, Saket, and Lajpat Nagar as probably unsafe. Its findings are anticipated to be positioned earlier than the Supreme Courtroom shortly.
Printed – September 08, 2026 03:38 pm IST
