In a tragic incident on 27th July, three IAS aspirants – two girls, and a boy, lost their lives as several students remained trapped in the basement of a coaching institute named Rau’s IAS Study Circle in the Old Rajendra Nagar after heavy rains flooded the basement. After getting an alert, NDRF teams and Delhi Fire Services rushed to the spot and rescued all other students stuck in the flooded basement of the institute.
On Sunday, July 28, Delhi Police detained the owner and coordinator of Rau’s IAS Study Circle. They have also registered a case against the coaching institute, the management of the building, and those responsible for the maintenance of the drain at that location.
Following the tragic incident, students staged protests against the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and the management of the coaching institute demanding that they should be held liable for the negligence.
#WATCH | Old Rajender Nagar Incident | Delhi: Students continue to protest against the MCD and the coaching institute where three students lost their lives after the basement of the institute was filled with water yesterday pic.twitter.com/9Erd7TgOAt
— ANI (@ANI) July 28, 2024
Speaking to ANI, a UPSC aspirant named Yuvraj said, “MCD is responsible… they did not ensure safety measures. Both MCD and RAU’s IAS are at fault, they should be held jointly liable. “
#WATCH | Old Rajender Nagar Incident | Delhi: Students protest against the Delhi government, MCD and the coaching institute where three students lost their lives after the basement of the institute was filled with water yesterday pic.twitter.com/UtOGL0LBj8
— ANI (@ANI) July 28, 2024
Another student said that it was not a disaster but rather it was the negligence on the part of the MCD that led to the unfortunate incident. It is alleged that the locals had been raising complaints to the MCD asking them to ensure proper drainage and other civic amenities for several days but the civic body didn’t pay heed to their complaints.
The student said, “MCD calls it a disaster but I say this is negligence. Knee-deep water gathers in half an hour of rain. My landlord has been asking the councillor for days to clean the drain….”
#WATCH | Old Rajender Nagar incident | Delhi: "MCD says it is a disaster but I would say that this is complete negligence. Knee-deep water gets logged in half an hour of rain. Disaster is something that happens sometimes. My landlord said that he had been asking the councillor… pic.twitter.com/W4fhem3lE6
— ANI (@ANI) July 28, 2024
Expressing frustration, a student remarked, “I think the main culprits here are the MCD and the institute’s director who neglected students’ interests.”
#WATCH | Old Rajender Nagar Incident | Delhi BJP President Virendraa Sachdeva says, "What has happened there is not a tragedy but murder. How the library was functioning in the basement? What happened to an investigation that was set up earlier? These students are the future of… pic.twitter.com/wPbxDHMaUL
— ANI (@ANI) July 28, 2024
Meanwhile, the principal opposition party in the city-state, BJP, slammed the Aam Aadmi Party for the death of three IAS aspirants in the Old Rajender Nagar incident. The party has demanded an inquiry as to why the AAP-led MCD didn’t ensure proper drainage in the area and accused AAP of indulging in rampant corruption.
Delhi BJP Chief Virendra Sachdeva said, “There should be an inquiry into the corruption of Arvind Kejriwal, Atishi, and their government. Delhi Municipal Corporation’s corruption should be inquired. There should be an inquiry as to why the drainage was not cleaned. Will they order an inquiry into this?”
#WATCH | Old Rajender Nagar incident | Delhi: On Minister Atishi's order for a magisterial inquiry, State BJP President Virendraa Sachdeva says, "There should be an inquiry into the corruption of Arvind Kejriwal, Atishi and their government… Delhi Municipal Corporation's… https://t.co/Q6SMUjCSf6 pic.twitter.com/Q6Ij8D4IQT
— ANI (@ANI) July 27, 2024
Additionally, according to media reports, it has been found that the coaching institute was given a fire safety certificate just 18 days before the incident. The certificate and the incident point towards major corruption in the issue of fire safety certificates by the AAP government in Delhi, because the certificate was issued despite several violations of fire safety norms which have become apparent after the tragedy.
Following massive criticism and allegations of corruption, negligence, and dereliction of duty in ensuring a proper drainage system, Delhi Mayor Shelly Oberoi reacted to the incident by issuing several instructions to the MCD Commissioner.
Shelly Oberoi has now instructed the MCD Commissioner to take strict action against coaching centres running illegal basements and against those who misuse the basements.
#WATCH | On Delhi's Old Rajinder Nagar Coaching Centre Incident, Mayor Shelly Oberoi says, "…It is sad that 3 children have died. I have written to the MCD Commissioner that strict action should be taken against all such coaching centres across Delhi which are under the… pic.twitter.com/aIwaAEVjFL
— ANI (@ANI) July 28, 2024
Incidentally, Shelly Oberoi, the AAP Mayor responsible for civic issues in Delhi was elected as the Delhi Mayor following massive controversies in the elections of the civic body.
Shelly Oberoi, Delhi Mayor elected after controversy-embroiled ‘multiple’ elections
Born in 1983, Shelly Oberoi was an academician before she entered the political field. She is a lifetime member of the Indian Commerce Association (ICA). She earned her B.Com degree from Janki Devi Memorial College of Delhi University and a Master’s Degree in Commerce from Himachal Pradesh University. She completed her PhD in Philosophy from the School of Management Studies (SOMS), Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU). She also studied management at IIM, Kozhikode.
Oberoi also won best paper awards at different national and international conferences. She won a Gold medal (Prof Manubhai Shah Award) at the ICA Conference.
Shelly Oberoi was a Former Asst. Professor (Visiting Faculty) at Delhi University. She entered politics and joined the Aam Aadmi Party in 2013. She was the vice president of the women’s wing of the party till 2020.
She was elected to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) from Patel Nagar’s Ward Number 86 in the Delhi MCD elections held in 2022. Back then, AAP won the highest number of seats as it secured 134 out of 250 seats in the civic body. While BJP secured 104 seats in the municipal elections, Congress won 9 seats.
Shelly Oberoi was elected as the Delhi Mayor months later, on 22nd February 2023. She defeated BJP’s Rekha Gupta by 34 votes amid high-voltage drama during the mayoral elections that were held for the civic body after three failed attempts and a Supreme Court intervention. Alongside her, Aaley Iqbal was also elected as the Deputy Mayor during the February 2023 elections.
However, their term expired with the financial year on 31st March as the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act of 1957 mandates that fresh elections should be held for the position of mayor at the beginning of the new financial year in April.
Subsequently, she was re-elected as Delhi Mayor in fresh elections that were held on 24th April, 2024, as the BJP candidate Shikha Roy, a councillor from Delhi’s Greater Kailash withdrew her candidature. Deputy mayor, Aaley Mohammad Iqbal from AAP was also re-elected as his BJP rival, Soni Pandey also withdrew her candidature.
Delhi Mayor acted beyond her powers and gave a legally impermissible decision: Delhi High Court
Last year in May, two BJP councillors, Kamaljeet Sehrawat, and Shikha Roy, had submitted in the Delhi High Court that Mayor Shelly Oberoi acted in a malafide manner when she called for the re-election of six members of the MCD standing committee after finding the election results “politically unpalatable”.
Appearing for the BJP councillors, senior lawyers Mahesh Jethmalani and Jayant Mehta submitted that Oberoi invalidated one of the votes in a manner “unrecognised in law” and interdicted the election process. Mehta also stressed that there was no legal provision that gave the Mayor the authority to ask for re-election, a re-count, or to declare the election invalid.
Subsequently, on 23rd May 2023, Delhi HC set aside her decision to hold re-elections for 6 members of the MCD standing committee and directed her to declare the results of the poll held on February 24.
Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav said the mayor, also the returning officer, acted beyond her powers and her decision was legally impermissible.
The Judge had said that the act of the mayor (Shelly Oberoi) in rejecting the ballot after the stage of scrutiny and determination of quota was bad in law.
Shelly Oberoi accused of acting as AAP leader rather than Delhi Mayor
During her tenure as Delhi Mayor, Oberoi has been embroiled in a power tussle with the LG administration and accused of running the MCD in an authoritarian and unconstitutional manner, giving preference to extending her powers rather than ensuring better civic amenities and acting on MCD’s responsibilities.
Notably, during a special session of the MCD, she proposed vesting the powers of the standing committee in the MCD House and also approached the Supreme Court in this regard. In her plea, before the Supreme Court, she sought the apex court’s direction to allow the functions of the Standing Committee to be exercised by the MCD till the panel is constituted. BJP members had opposed the move, describing it as “illegal and unconstitutional“.
In September last year, Shelly Oberoi-led Delhi MCD hiked councillors’ allowance by 8,233.33% raising it from Rs 300 to Rs 25,000 per meeting.
Additionally, in the past, the councillors have accused her of engaging in partisan behaviour and acting as an AAP leader.
Leader of Opposition in the MCD, Raja Iqbal Singh had earlier accused Mayor Shelly Oberoi of engaging in partisan behaviour for “not inviting” BJP councillors to meetings.
Strikingly, ever since the Aam Aadmi Party formed its government in Delhi, it has been notorious for running after the consolidation of power and attempting to encroach on the powers vested in the Union government through its representative, the Lieutenant Governor. However, it has been time and again caught shirking its responsibilities, especially on issues of air and water pollution in Delhi. It has been embroiled in power tussle with the LG in an attempt to grab more powers from the Union government. Conspicuously, the latest tragedy in which three IAS aspirants lost their lives because of the alleged negligence of MCD in ensuring a better drainage system and legal compliance by the coaching institute, has exposed Delhi MCD under Mayor Shelly Oberoi.
(With Inputs from ANI)
