Supreme Court judge writes 4th letter to CJI against Raj HC judge

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday decided against transferring the proceedings concerning the Satya Niketan building collapse to itself, asking the Delhi high court to continue monitoring the matter as “things have started moving”.A bench of Justices Ahsanuddin Amanullah and R Mahadevan said it did not want to disturb the proceedings already underway before the high court and asked it to monitor the action being taken by civic authorities and bring the case to a conclusion.“We do not wish to disturb the position before the high court. We request them to monitor the case and bring it to a conclusion,” it said.The Supreme Court’s decision came after Amicus Curiae Ajit Kumar submitted that the exercise being undertaken by the authorities was moving in the right direction. He, however, stressed that the proceedings before the Delhi High Court should not be restricted only to the safety of paying guest accommodations and hostels.The Satya Niketan building collapse, near Moti Bagh, had left seven people dead and 12 injured. The incident subsequently led to a series of proceedings concerning building safety and enforcement by civic authorities in Delhi.The Supreme Court took note of steps being taken by the Delhi government and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) pursuant to its earlier directions concerning building collapses and fires in Delhi and Lucknow.The Delhi high court had issued several directions following the incident, including asking the MCD to undertake an exercise to assess the safety of PG accommodations and hostels.Kumar told the Supreme Court that inspections had been carried out in four areas of Delhi as well as in Lucknow. The earlier directions covered Lajpat Nagar, Saket, Malviya Nagar and Sarojini Nagar in Delhi, and Ali Ganj in Lucknow.

The amicus had suggested that the proceedings pending before the Delhi high Court could instead be transferred to the Supreme Court and tagged with the present proceedings. Alternatively, he proposed that the High Court proceedings continue while a report is filed before the Supreme Court in terms of its March 25, 2026 order, particularly paragraphs 6 and 7, and its August 5, 2026 order.The bench accepted the latter course and clarified that the Supreme Court proceedings were not confined to the specific areas identified in Delhi or to Lucknow.The clarification came after the Supreme Court had earlier indicated that it could examine the broader issue of commercial exploitation of areas designated as residential across Delhi-NCR.The court’s latest direction means the Delhi High Court will continue to oversee the ongoing proceedings and monitor the action taken by civic authorities in the wake of the building collapse.