Chandigarh, July 12: The Punjab and Haryana High Court has intervened to secure the safety of students by ordering a thorough review of fire safety infrastructure in educational institutes across the region. The high court bench instructed top administrative officials and electricity boards across Punjab, Haryana, and Chandigarh to file verified compliance updates by August 10.
The enforcement push follows recent joint inspections supervised by Chandigarh’s Chief Fire Officer, Dr. Inderjeet, which exposed widespread vulnerabilities in Sector 34, an area heavily populated by private coaching academies. The checking teams discovered that major centers, such as Allen, Sri Chaitanya, and Narayana, possessed non-functional fire safety systems, missing emergency keys, and layout designs that lacked separate emergency exits.
Legal experts moved the court by highlighting that the current state of these structures violates long-standing Supreme Court guidelines on student safety. The petition emphasized that state departments must proactively identify buildings constructed directly beneath high-voltage power lines and issue immediate safety notices to property owners to prevent electrical disasters.
The regional human rights commission has similarly taken independent note of the hazardous conditions, instructing municipal teams to enforce fire safety clearances without exception.
“The inspections revealed classrooms without exit signage and windows blocked with iron grills,” the petitioner asserted in the moving documents. “Classes were being conducted in basements against building rules.”
Administrative departments have begun drafting guidelines for the upcoming deadline, with the court warning that failure to provide adequate protection could result in the closure of non-compliant facilities.
“We have directed the concerned departments to execute rigorous safety audits,” a high court representative affirmed. “The state must ensure every single coaching center and school functions within the legal parameters of the national building code.”
