Supreme Court decreases immediate hearing on report over Saidulajab structure collapse

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The Supreme Court on Monday(June 8, 2026 )decreased to accord an immediate hearing on a status report submitted by a court-appointed amicus curiae looking for instructions to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) in connection with the collapse of an unauthorised five-storey structure in Delhi’s Saidulajab location that declared 6 lives and hurt a minimum of 14 others on May 30.

A Bench of Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and Atul S. Chandurkar decreased to give an immediate hearing on the report. “Mentioning declined. No orders needed to be passed,” the Bench stated.

In his status report, senior supporter Ajit Kumar Sinha looked for the Supreme Court’s intervention to direct the MCD to submit an affidavit detailing how the unlawful building was enabled to continue and the action taken versus authorities accountable for the lapse. It likewise looked for instructions for a “structural audit” of unauthorised building and constructions throughout the nationwide capital and for unlawful structures to be sealed and destroyed expeditiously.

The report was submitted in procedures emerging out of a March 25 order gone by a Bench of Justices Ahsanuddin Amanullah and R. Mahadevan. While hearing a matter worrying unlawful buildings in Tamil Nadu, the Bench had actually revealed severe issue over “extensive and outright infractions of structure bye-laws and land-use policies” and bought a pan-India query into the widespread conversion of domestic facilities for business usage.

The Bench had actually selected Mr. Sinha as amicus curiae to help the court. In his report, he mentioned that the Bench had actually approved him liberty to look for the court’s intervention and proper instructions as and when needed.

‘Blind eye’

Mr. Sinha declared that the MCD had actually stopped working to release its statutory responsibilities regardless of duplicated notification of the offenses. He sent that the civic body had actually stopped working to seal the properties or take any action, even as extra floorings were built unlawfully at the Saidulajab home.

The report submitted through supporter Govind Jee specified that such unauthorised building might not have actually continued for almost a years unless authorities accountable for implementing the law had “disregarded” to the offenses. It explained that MCD records themselves showed a long history of unauthorised building and construction at the residential or commercial property.

According to the amicus, although the structure was at first approved just for a basement, ground flooring and very first flooring, the prohibited building of the 2nd and 3rd floorings was performed in 2015. This was followed by the building and construction of the unauthorised 4th and 5th floorings, leading to the collapse of the whole structure

“The gross offense and unlawful building which went on considering that 2015 eventually resulted in the dreadful and regrettable event where innocent trainees and citizens of the area lost their lives, whereas the recipient of the stated unlawful structures, in addition to officers who stopped working to release their statutory responsibilities, are still taking pleasure in the advantages stemmed from the unauthorised building and by letting the illegality continue in all time,” the report specified.

A simple eyewash’

Mr. Sinha competed that the suspension of 2 MCD engineers following the accident was a “simple eyewash” and a “post-facto and cosmetic workout” by the civic body.

Appropriately, the amicus advised the pinnacle court to direct the MCD to submit an affidavit detailing the action taken versus prohibited and unauthorised buildings in the nationwide capital, along with the unauthorised business usage of domestic properties. He likewise looked for instructions for a “structural audit” of such homes and for prohibited structures to be sealed and destroyed expeditiously.

Keeping in mind of the casualties triggered by the accident, the amicus likewise looked for instructions to the Delhi federal government to provide an affidavit detailing the payment proposed for the households of the deceased.

‘Fraud on the system’

In its March 25 order, the leading court had actually directed local authorities to carry out studies of unlawful building and constructions and warned that the workout must not end up being a “simple ceremonial” procedure. It had actually likewise directed all statutory appellate authorities and quasi-judicial online forums handling infractions of structure standards and unauthorised building and constructions to get rid of pending matters, as far as possible, within 3 months.

Significantly, the court had actually likewise revealed strong bookings about the MCD’s stand on the problem of unauthorised modification of land usage. Recording its frustration with the civic body’s submission that Delhi’s Master Plan 2021 allowed several usages, the Bench headed by Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah had actually observed that while the master strategy might enable various classifications of usage, an individual who acquires sanction for a structure for a specific function can not consequently modify its usage. Such a modification, the court stated, would total up to “absolutely nothing except a scams on the system”.

“This element appears to have actually been entirely glossed over by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi and might even show implied collusion and connivance with the lawbreakers for extraneous factors to consider, which are neither challenging to understand nor unidentified,” the Bench had actually tape-recorded in its order.