The
Delhi High Court on Friday transferred the probe into the drowning of three
civil services aspirants at the basement of a coaching centre here from police
to the CBI "to ensure the public has no doubt over the investigation".
Criticising
the police for arresting an SUV driver and blaming him for the incident, the
high court said, "Mercifully, you have not challaned the rainwater for
entering into the basement."
"You
would have said how dare the water enter the basement. You could have fined the
water also, the way you arrested the SUV driver for driving his car
there," it said.
A
bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela asked the
Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) to nominate a senior officer to oversee the
probe by the CBI into the criminal case in a time-bound manner.
The
court said one needs to look at the bigger picture as there is a far more
fundamental problem in the city and it was time to relook at Delhi's
administrative, financial and physical infrastructure, which is outdated and
not in line with the present-day needs.
It
formed a committee headed by the chief secretary of Delhi and also comprising
DDA vice chairman, Delhi Police commissioner and MCD commissioner to deal with
the issue and submit the report within eight weeks.
"Having regard to the nature of the incident
and to ensure that the public has no doubt with regards to investigation, this
court transfers the probe to the CBI," the high court said.
It
castigated the police and Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) over the
drowning incident, saying it was unable to fathom how the students could not
come out and sought to know whether the doors were blocked or staircases
narrow.
"What's
your line of looking? how did the children drown? You have done an
investigation now. We are on August 2. Why were they not able to come out of
the basement? It doesn't get flooded immediately. Water takes at least
two-three minutes to fill a basement, it can't happen in a minute. Why were they
not able to come out?"
The
bench said administratively Delhi has a multiplicity of authorities who are
only passing the buck and doing nothing. The public perception is that civic
authorities are inefficient, it said.
The
high court told the Delhi government counsel that if the administrators are
carrying on with a freebie culture, they would not know how to change the
structure.
"One
change in GST and the revenue will go up. You will have to think out of the
box. If you do not find revenue in a place like Delhi, you would not find it
anywhere else," it said.
It
said Delhi's physical infrastructure is nearly 75-year-old and they are not
only inadequate but poorly maintained.
On
being informed by the MCD commissioner, who was present in the court, that the
stormwater drains in the area were dysfunctional, the bench asked why the
officials did not inform the MCD chief about it earlier.
The
bench also ordered the removal of encroachments and unauthorised constructions,
including on stormwater and sewage drains, in the Rajinder Nagar area.
The
court said that with the rise in Delhi's population, the city needs a robust
system. Due to various subsidy schemes, migration in the national capital is
also increasing, it said.
"The
financial health of civic agencies like MCD, if not precarious, is not healthy.
This court would not be wrong in concluding that civic agencies in Delhi have
no funds to carry out major infrastructure," the high court said.
During
the hearing, the counsel for Delhi Police submitted that the probe into the
case was carried out under extreme stress and that it was doing its best to
have forensic examinations of every aspect to ascertain the culpability.
To
this, the court remarked that "we are all under a lot of stress" but
in the present scenario, "we can't come under stress".
"The
moment we come under stress, we take the wrong steps. And in this case, some
wrong steps have been taken. Please do an investigation in a scientific manner.
Don't come under any stress," the court said.
It
wondered how a passerby could be arrested and not the official who did not see
that the stormwater drain was dysfunctional and pulled up the police for not
questioning any MCD official or even seizing the recent file from the civic
body, which could have been an important piece of evidence.
It
rapped the MCD for not adhering to judicial orders and said its officials were
not bothered and there is no respect for the law. The court asked if human
lives don't count for officials and added that there has to be some
accountability.
It
is no wonder that Delhi is passing from one crisis to another. One day there is
the problem of draught, the other day it is flood, the bench said, adding if
the water is properly stored during monsoon there would not be a draught the
next year.
The
court directed the MCD to ensure that drains in the area are functional and if
their capacity has to be increased, it be done in a systematic manner at the
earliest.