On Wednesday, the Delhi High Court criticized the Delhi government for its 'freebie culture' and demanded accountability for the deaths of three civil services aspirants caused by water-logging in a coaching center in Rajendra Nagar, Delhi.

A Bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela remarked that the 'freebie culture' led to inadequate revenue collection by the government, which, in turn, hampered efforts to upgrade infrastructure in the national capital.

"Civic authorities are bankrupt. If you don't have money to pay salaries, how will you upgrade infrastructure? You want freebie culture. You are not collecting money so you are not spending any money," the Court said.

The Court was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) petition that sought a "high-level" investigation into the three deaths. It also observed that the current investigation was inadequate and that no accountability had been assigned to any officials from the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) as of yet.

"Who is the investigating officer? Some sort of a strange investigation going on. Unauthorized construction happens in collusion with the Police," the Bench remarked.

The Court subsequently added Delhi Police as a respondent in the PIL and requested an action taken report on the investigation conducted so far. It emphasized the necessity of fixing responsibility and indicated that if this was not achieved, a Central agency would need to be involved.

The matter was scheduled for further hearing on Friday, August 2. The Court also directed the investigating officer, the concerned Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), and the MCD Commissioner to be personally present.

The PIL, filed by the organization Kutumb, named the Delhi government, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), and the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) as parties to the case. The petition argued that the incident resulted from corruption and failures by civic authorities.

According to NDTV, the incident took place in a building in Rajendra Nagar housing a branch of Rau's IAS Study Circle, a well-known coaching institute for civil service aspirants. The institute's basement library was flooded due to heavy rains.

The three deceased aspirants were identified as Tania Soni (25), Shreya Yadav (25), and Navin Delvin (28). Advocates Rudra Vikram Singh, Yash Giri, and Anuj Shukla represented the petitioners.