Coaching centre case: Court junks owners’ request to deseal bldg

New Delhi: A court on Tuesday dismissed the desealing applications from the owners of the ground, first and second floors of the building where three UPSC aspirants died in July in Old Rajendra Nagar. The students died in its basement.
The court of additional chief judicial magistrate Nishant Garg stated that it couldn't be said that only the basement was the subject matter of the investigation and that other floors had no connection with it.
"Accordingly, no sufficient ground to permit the desealing or free ingress/egress on the upper floors of the building is made out," it said.
Advocate Abhijeet Anand, the counsel for one of the victims, said it had come on record that the entire building was the subject matter of the investigation. He argued that the NOC was issued illegally by Delhi Fire Services and the premises were not certified as an educational building.
Anand also submitted that the applications were not maintainable before this court as the CBI probe was ordered by Delhi High Court, and the pleas should have been filed before it.
He said the applicants/landlords let out the property to Rau's IAS Study Circle and the tenant/lessee didn't hand over the possession to the landlord/owners. Hence, the owners/applicants were not entitled to seek its desealing.
The court noted that the applicants were the owners not only of their respective floors but also of their respective undivided share in the land on which the building was constructed. The basement cannot be treated as a separate unit while considering the safety of the building, it pointed out. tnn