The Supreme Courtroom will hear on Friday the matter involving the collapse of a five-storeyed constructing getting used as a boys’ paying visitor lodging in Delhi’s Satya Niketan, which left seven individuals lifeless.
A bench of Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah and Justice R Mahadevan listed the matter after Senior Advocate Ajit Kumar Sinha, who is the Amicus Curiae within the case regarding rampant violations of constructing bye-laws and unauthorised conversion of residential premises into industrial institutions throughout the nation, sought an early listening to.
Sinha has filed a standing report putting the September 6 incident earlier than the Supreme Courtroom. He has sought additional instructions from the Courtroom, together with a time-bound inspection and security audit of PG lodging, personal hostels and comparable scholar lodging institutions in and round schools and universities throughout Delhi.
Solicitor Normal Tushar Mehta highlighted that the Delhi Excessive Courtroom has already taken up a PIL over the incident and handed numerous instructions.
Yesterday, the Delhi Excessive Courtroom in a PIL filed following the Satya Niketan collapse directed the MCD to examine, inside one week, all PG hostels below its jurisdiction and report whether or not the buildings housing them had been constructed with requisite permissions and whether or not there had been violations of these permissions or constructing bye-laws. It additionally directed the MCD to state whether or not statutory or govt laws exist for regulating PG hostels in Delhi.
“The matter has been taken in proper earnest“, Mehta submitted, highlighting that the erring officers have been suspended.
Nevertheless, Justice Amanullah identified that the problems within the PIL earlier than the HC overlap with the continuing matter in SC concerning constructing violations, and indicated that the courtroom might switch the PIL earlier than HC to itself.
“This has been taken in proper earnest however it’s overlapping. We are going to take it day after tomorrow after which most likely we might make the switch right here.We have already got one thing in thoughts. It must be pan India foundation”, Justice Amanullah mentioned.
The constructing, located at Property No. P-14, Satya Niketan, South-West Delhi, collapsed at round 1.30 pm on September 6. In accordance with the standing report filed by the Amicus, the property measured roughly 55 sq. yards and comprised a basement and 4 flooring above the bottom ground. It was getting used as a boys’ PG lodging below the title “Hostel Daze”. Seven individuals died and no less than 12 individuals had been rescued and brought to hospitals, together with the AIIMS Trauma Centre and Safdarjung Hospital.
The exact reason for the collapse continues to be below investigation. The preliminary materials earlier than the amicus signifies that construction-related work was being carried out in or across the basement and that there have been studies of waterlogging within the basement instantly earlier than the incident. An FIR has been registered by the Delhi Police at South Campus Police Station below Sections 105, 290 and 125 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023. The proprietor, recognized as Hari Om Bansal, was reportedly arrested in Rajasthan on September 7.
The amicus has identified that Satya Niketan was not lined by the inspection train already ordered by the Supreme Courtroom. By its July 9 order, the Courtroom had constituted a committee to examine buildings in Lajpat Nagar, Saket and Malviya Nagar. The inspection was accomplished on September 3, and as per the standing report, the committee discovered sure buildings in Saidulajab, Saket and Lajpat Nagar to be in a precarious and unsafe situation. Its report is but to be positioned earlier than the Courtroom.
Sinha has due to this fact proposed that the inspection train be prolonged to PG lodging, personal hostels and comparable scholar lodging institutions throughout Delhi. The proposed inspection would study sanctioned constructing plans, the precise development and variety of flooring, basement development and alterations, permissible land use, structural security, fire-safety compliance, technique of ingress and egress, and whether or not the premises are in a harmful or ruinous situation.
The standing report additionally factors out that Satya Niketan had witnessed a constructing collapse in April 2022, during which two individuals died and 4 others had been injured. In accordance with the report, the recurrence of such an incident in the identical locality raises considerations concerning the prevailing mechanism for inspection, identification of harmful buildings and enforcement of constructing bye-laws.
The MCD has suspended 5 South Zone officers in reference to the incident. It has additionally ordered demolition of the adjoining property P-13, Satya Niketan, after discovering it to be in a harmful situation. The demolition order was issued on September 6 below Part 348 learn with Part 491 of the Delhi Municipal Company Act, 1957.
The Supreme Courtroom’s ongoing proceedings concern widespread violations of constructing bye-laws and land-use laws. On March 25, 2026, the Courtroom had taken word of such violations and noticed that constructions had been regularly being undertaken in breach of relevant norms, together with in prohibited areas. It had directed that the difficulty be monitored on a pan-India foundation.
Case Particulars: Loganathan v. The State of Tamil Nadu, Miscellaneous Utility Diary No. 17103/2026
