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The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) told the Delhi High Court on Friday that five officials of the civic body have been suspended over the incident of collapse of Satya Niketan PG building, which resulted in deaths of seven people.

The submission was made by SGI Tushar Mehta before a division bench comprising Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia, while referring to the status report filed by MCD.

He said that an enquiry was taken up to examine the circumstances surrounding the building collapse, including the sanction or permission status of the buildings, compliance with applicable building bye-laws and the role, if any, of the concerned MCD officials.

The MCD, in its compliance affidavit, has stated that the matter was taken up at the highest executive level immediately after the incident and that action was not confined to field-level functionaries.

Mehta said that five officers across the supervisory chain were placed under suspension on September 07, as an immediate administrative measure.

The affidavit states that the Delhi Government has constituted a Magisterial Inquiry into the incident to examine issues including the validity of permissions, compliance with building bye-laws and the role of the concerned officials.

The MCD has also stated that no sanctioned building plan was approved for the property in question and that it was not constructed pursuant to valid MCD permission.

Further, the status report states that the MCD has completed a survey of PG accommodations across all 12 zones under its jurisdiction, identifying 2,453 PG buildings, 32,247 rooms and approximately 50,529 occupants.

Of the 2,453 PG buildings surveyed, the MCD has stated that 2,342 were visibly safe, 91 required minor repairs, 30 required major repairs and four were found dangerous, requiring demolition or structural audit.

In addition, it has been submitted that eight load-bearing structures above ground plus three storeys and 77 framed structures above ground plus four storeys have been separately identified for close monitoring as potentially vulnerable.

The Corporation has clarified that the figure of approximately 50,529 occupants is tentative and remains subject to further verification and reconciliation of data received from the respective zones.

During the hearing today, the Court permitted former civil servant Kiran Bedi to address the Bench whenever the matter is listed, while allowing her impleadment application.

While listing the matter for hearing next on October 14, the Court said that if the meeting of Delhi Government's High Powered Committee takes place in the meantime, the minutes drawn shall be placed on record.

Yesterday, the Delhi Police also filed its status report, informing the Court that the owners of the PG failed to ensure structural safety and did not obtain the advice of any qualified structural engineer or architect before carrying out repair and structural modification work.

According to the police, 12 persons were rescued from the debris. Seven persons, including five students and two labourers, were declared brought dead, while the remaining persons sustained injuries.

The status reports have been filed in the PIL moved by a law student Aniket Kumar Gupta, seeking urgent medical care and rehabilitation of affected students, compensation to victims, safe relocation of students from unsafe premises and preservation of crucial evidence relating to the collapse.

The plea seeks constitution of an independent Judicial or Technical Committee to ascertain the precise cause of the collapse and fix responsibility, besides a comprehensive structural and safety audit of PGs, hostels and other student accommodation facilities in Delhi.

The matter is listed tomorrow for hearing by a division bench comprising Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia.

The Court recently asked the authorities to double their efforts to save the lives of students affected by the collapse.

It has directed the MCD to take up the issue at its highest executive level and get an enquiry conducted as to whether the buildings which collapsed were constructed under valid permission or not.

The High Court has also said that if it is found that the construction was not done under valid permission, MCD shall fix responsibility of the erring official or employees for the lapse.

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