Officers' irresponsibility: High Courts' warning
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Following the collapse of a five-story building in Delhi's Satya Niketan on September 6, the lifeless bodies of seven people were recovered up until Tuesday. Reports indicate that the majority of those who lost their lives were students living as paying guests (PG's) in the building located near Delhi University's South Campus. Ordering a high-level inquiry into the accident, the Delhi High Court severely criticised the Municipal Corporation of Delhi for failing to curb illegal constructions. A bench headed by Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya pointed out that the authorities of Delhi University, who failed to ensure safe housing facilities for students, bear equal blame for the disaster. The court added that the tragedy could have been averted had the authorities exercised due diligence in fulfilling their legal obligations. Following the accident, the police took the absconding building owner, his wife, and his son into custody. Five officials from the South Zone of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi have also been suspended. Condemning the helplessness of the "triple-engine" government ruling the capital city, Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi faulted the shameful negligence of those who failed to take timely precautionary measures to prevent the accident. Congress leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, heavily mocked the irresponsibility of the BJP, which holds sway over all three centres of power: the Delhi Corporation, the Delhi state government, and the Central Government. NSUI leader Vinod Jakhar characterised it as a "four-engine government," factoring in the Lieutenant Governor as well. It has already been proven that Hindutva governments lack even a fraction of the vigilance in enforcing safety rules to protect human lives that they demonstrate when suppressing the CJP agitation at Jantar Mantar or rounding up those who participated in earlier peaceful youth protests against the unjust Citizenship Amendment Act.
The recent observation by the Allahabad High Court — asserting that officers' allegiance should lie not with the government, but with the Constitution — must be read alongside this. In its verdict ordering the release of student Akriti Chaudhary, who was detained under the National Security Act in connection with a labor protest in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, the court raised scathing criticism against officials, including Collector Medha Roopam, forcing it to remind them that loyalty must be to the Constitution. Gautam Buddh Nagar Collector Medha Roopam is the daughter of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. The court blasted the Collector's action as absurd, having proceeded without finding evidence that student Akriti Chaudhary, who has no criminal background, incited violence. In BJP-ruled states guided by Hindutva ideology— especially in Yogi Adityanath's UP— it has now become customary occurrence that have even ceased to be news, for ultra-radical organisations like the RSS, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, and Bajrang Dal to orchestrate attacks, name accused individuals of their own choosing, and have them arrested under non-bailable charges to be detained indefinitely without trial. With corruption and bribery gripping the entire administrative machinery, the condition where officials fear no accountability continues unabated. The Ayodhya Ram Temple donation scam, after all, was a shocking affair that shook the entire nation. It was none other than the bureaucracy within the "four-engine" governing edifice— naturally composed of those who have proven their allegiance to the saffron cause — that colluded with cold-blooded individuals, failing to demolish the archaic building in Delhi in a timely manner and repeatedly using it as a hostel to house students. Had even a hundredth of the zeal shown in chanting and forcing others to chant Jai Shri Ram been accorded to administrative integrity in the concept of Ram Rajya, this great nation of India would not have had to bear this curse.
