The Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought formal responses from the Central government, the Delhi government, and Delhi University on a public interest litigation seeking the provision of hostel facilities across all colleges affiliated with the university.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia issued notices to the three entities and scheduled the matter for hearing on September 25. The bench directed that the petition be tagged with an existing matter concerning the recent fatal building collapse in South Delhi’s Satya Niketan.
The plea, moved by National Students’ Union of India president Vinod Jakhar, comes in the wake of the September 6 collapse of a building operating as a private paying guest facility near South Campus. Seven people died and several others sustained injuries when the structure collapsed while repair work was underway.
During Wednesday’s hearing, the bench underscored that public interest litigation constitutes a serious legal mechanism and questioned the petitioner for including the University Grants Commission as a respondent without justification, directing that the commission be deleted from the petition.
Petition Highlights Chronic Accommodation Deficit
The petition pointed to an acute and longstanding deficit of affordable, adequate institutional lodging for Delhi University students. It stated that while more than 104 years have passed since the university was established, residential infrastructure has failed to expand in proportion to rising student enrollment and geographical spread across the National Capital Territory.
According to the plea, a significant number of constituent colleges have no hostel facilities at all, while the few institutions that do offer residential quarters maintain capacities grossly below actual student demand.
The petition argued that this institutional shortage leaves thousands of students, particularly those arriving from other states and union territories, with no option but to seek lodging in private paying guest accommodations, private hostels, rented rooms, and shared apartments located near their colleges. It added that reliance on private housing places a heavy financial burden on students and their families.
The petitioner submitted that the Satya Niketan collapse must not be treated as an isolated incident limited to a single building, neighborhood, or campus. Instead, the plea argued, the disaster highlights broader concerns regarding the safety and welfare of thousands of students residing in privately run facilities across the capital.
Demands For Long-Term Policy And Interim Safety Audits
The petition asked the court to direct authorities to conduct an institution-by-institution assessment of current hostel capacities and student housing requirements, followed by the rollout of a phased, time-bound hostel development policy.
Under the proposed plan, colleges with adequate land holdings would expand or construct new hostel wings, while institutions facing land constraints would be supported through centralized hostels erected on available government or university parcels.
Recognizing that permanent infrastructure requires time to construct, the petition also sought interim measures. These include mandatory structural and fire-safety audits of all private student accommodations and paying guest hostels operating near Delhi University colleges, accompanied by a formal registration system and periodic safety inspections.
The high court had previously intervened on September 7 by directing the Municipal Corporation of Delhi to conduct a high-level inquiry into the Satya Niketan collapse, making clear that public authorities cannot avoid accountability. In that order, the court observed that the incident underscored serious concerns over the scarcity of government and university-run housing, student safety, and the inadequacy of municipal oversight governing private accommodation facilities.
