Fearful of coaching centres being forced to close down, students move Delhi HC

NEW DELHI: Several students, preparing for different competitive exams, have approached the Delhi High Court seeking to be heard on the issue of running of coaching centres from residential units, saying any decision in the matter would affect their future.

Students studying at various coaching centres in Outram Lines, Kingsway Camp and Mukherjee Nagar in north Delhi, filed an application before a bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar.

The bench is likely to take up their plea on October 9, when the main petition against the running of coaching centres from residential properties is listed for hearing.

The applicants are students preparing for various competitive exams such as civil services, judiciary and staff selection commission at various coaching centres in Mukherjee Nagar.

In their application, a group of five students has claimed they have already deposited full fees to the coaching centres and if any of them is shut down or sealed by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, they will suffer as most of them are preparing for civil services where the main examinations start in October.

"The applicants are at the most crucial stage of their life where their future will depend on their performance in the competitive exams and any hindrance and wastage of time will leave them behind, spoiling their future.

"There are around 20,000 students studying in the area of Mukherjee Nagar and the decision of the court

would directly affect the career and future of the students," the plea filed through advocates Arvind Singh and Amit

Kocher said.

It said the recent incidents where their friends, who were studying in one such coaching institute, were thrown out of the class and their

centres sealed, has created

fear among the students about their fate.

The court has been hearing petitions by Delhi residents Sanjay Singhal and Kanchan Gupta, who have alleged that the MCD had allowed over 100 coaching centres to be run illegally from residential properties.

They have also said that these centres were allowed to come up without conforming to the requirements of the master plan for buildings where such use is permitted.

Contending that this was completely illegal and ought not to have been permitted, they alleged that it was resulting in overcrowding in the areas and causing "grave nuisance to the bonafide residents."