The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) was ordered by the Delhi High Court on Tuesday to close all coaching centres and other businesses operating in the national capital under mixed land use if they are discovered to lack fire clearance certificates and to not be in compliance with other MPD-2021 requirements.
The Master Plan-2021 permits coaching centres to operate, but no such institutions will be allowed to operate in violation of the master plan, a bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Sanjeev Narula ruled in response to the unlicensed coaching centres that are springing up all over the city.
On October 10, the topic will be discussed once more.
The decision was made after hearing a number of public interest lawsuits filed by residents of Mukherjee Nagar, including Kanchan Gupta, inhabitants of Lado Sarai, and residents of other locations, who demanded the closure of the unlawful coaching centres that were endangering their health and lives.
The court was also hearing a case it had brought on its own initiative following a fire that injured 61 pupils on June 15 at a tutoring facility in Mukherjee Nagar, north Delhi.
The court noticed the declaration of Delhi Police, which stated that following inspections, of the 583 coaching institutes in Delhi, only 67 have a certificate from the Delhi Fire Service. The court instructed authorities to cancel the registration of all non-conforming institutions within 40 days.
The fire department informed the court in a separate status report that it had conducted a survey of 461 coaching centres and discovered that the necessary fire prevention and safety measures had not been implemented in accordance with the DFS Act 2007 and Rules 2010.
"The MPD-2021 allows for mixed land use registration upon payment. Undoubtedly, the registration must be completed by MCD, provided that the requirements listed in clause 15.7.3 of the MPD are met.
The court stated, "It goes without saying that with regard to other commercial activities that are also taking place in Mukherjee Nagar and registration has been granted by the MCD for mixed-use premises, the MCD will scrutinise all such other registrations to ensure compliance of the norms under MPD and take appropriate actions against them if they are non-conforming with the MPD."
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