‘What steps are you taking?’: HC questions DU over hostel shortage, flags ‘vague’ reply

The Delhi High Court on Friday criticised Delhi University over its response on the issue of adding additional hostel facilities for students as “absolutely vague” while hearing various petitions on the September 6 Satya Niketan multi-storey building collapse in which seven persons, including five students, lost their lives.

The court made stern remarks on the question of building new hostels for students.

A counsel for one of the petitioners pointed out that DU’s affidavit showed that only 5,698 students were being provided hostel accommodation, even as nearly 1.3 lakh students regularly attend classes. The Bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia then stated: “You (DU) are only giving figures, as against the students’ strength of more than a lakh, you are giving hostel facilities to a few thousand. And then you say that you are taking steps. What are those steps?”