A Delhi High Court bench of Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia refused an urgent listing of a plea seeking DU hostels at every college.
The bench noted that a public interest litigation on the issue was already scheduled and listed the plea for Wednesday.
The petition comes in the wake of the fatal collapse of a boys' paying guest building in South Delhi's Satya Niketan.
The Delhi High Court on Tuesday refused to urgently hear a petition seeking directions to Delhi University to provide hostels at each college. The court declined to list the plea urgently because a public interest litigation on the issue had already been filed.
The plea came amid outrage over a building collapse in Delhi’s Satya Niketan, where a boys’ PG crumbled and seven people died, including five students. “One PIL has already been filed. Tomorrow it will come. Unnecessarily you waste your own time. Can by way of an interim direction such a directive be issued?,” the court said.
The matter was mentioned before Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia, with the lawyer seeking a listing on Tuesday. The bench said the plea would be listed on its own on Wednesday, September 9.
Collapse And Listing
The Delhi High Court on Monday allowed urgent listing of a PIL relating to the building collapse in Satya Niketan that left six people dead and several others injured.
A lawyer mentioned the matter for urgent hearing before Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia, and the bench allowed it to be listed during the day. In seeking urgent hearing, the lawyer said, “yesterday one tragic incident happened in Satya Niketan area in South Delhi where two buildings suddenly collapsed and around 30 students are feared trapped under the debris”.
The structure caved in during Sunday repair work. Located near Delhi University’s South Campus, the property functioned as a paying guest residence for male students.
PIL Demands
The PIL was filed by Delhi University law student Aniket Kumar Gupta through advocate Umesh Kumar as of September 8, 2026. It seeks an independent judicial or technical inquiry into the collapse.
The plea demands ₹1 crore for each victim's family. It also calls for compulsory structural and safety inspections across all private hostels and PG facilities located in student localities of Delhi.
The plea seeks criminal accountability for the building owner, contractors and municipal officials. It is grounded in an alleged violation of students’ fundamental right to life and safety under Article 21 of the Constitution.
The petition also cites illegal structural alterations, including unapproved floor additions and basement excavations, carried out without municipal sanction. It points to institutional negligence and acute deficits in regulated university hostel infrastructure.
Housing Shortage Context
The absence of affordable on-campus housing at colleges under Delhi University is one of the biggest reasons why paying guest accommodations have boomed in the capital. Hostels are available at some colleges, but they cannot meet demand.
That gap pushes students from across India into private accommodation near campuses. The Satya Niketan collapse has brought that pressure back into court and sharpened calls for more hostels at colleges.
