The Centre and Delhi governments Thursday vehemently opposed adding former IPS officer Kiran Bedi as party to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) concerning the Satya Niketan building collapse that killed seven, including five Delhi University students.Bedi, the former Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry, has sought that she be made a party in one of the three PILs pertaining to the circumstances around the collapse.This PIL was filed by Delhi University law student Aniket Kumar Gupta. He had sought an immediate safety audit of private paying guest and hostel accommodations in Satya Niketan area, which caters mainly to students from DU’s South Campus, arguing that the incident points to wider safety concerns in buildings housing thousands of students.Even as the bench of Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia expressed surprise at the government’s opposition to the impleadment, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Chetan Sharma alleged that Bedi is “prejudging the issue”.CJ Upadhyaya remarked, “She is only seeking to intervene in the matter with a view to assist the court. We can always (use) her long experience (in administrative matters).”In her application, Bedi sought to intervene “to bring forth critical public domain disclosures that directly establish a nexus between local political representatives, administrative apathy, and the rampant operation of illegal PG hostels being owned and run by the admittaturs, politicians and their family, associates, etc”.She has further alleged in her application that “repeated incidents raise a grave question as to whether the administration knowingly turned a blind eye to these unsafe structures”.Story continues below this ad“It is highly improbable that local authorities and public representatives were unaware of these illegal, unsafe accommodations providing housing to students,” Bedi has said in her application.Even as ASG Sharma, representing the Centre, state government and Municipal Corporatoon of Delhi (MCD), sought time to file a written reply opposing Bedi’s plea, the bench remarked, “You should not take this matter adversarially. Let us utilise her experience.”Also Read | In a city where students paid with lives, hostel projects stalled, crawlingThe court granted the government three days to object to her application, and will consider the matter next on September 25.“There is something to be said, we will say it in whatever form we have to, after receiving instructions,” ASG Sharma remarked.Story continues below this adOn September 7, the court had directed the Delhi government, MCD, DU as well as Delhi Police to file separate responses to the law student’s PIL, in 10 days. Gupta’s counsel, on Thursday, also informed the court that it had not received any response yet.The court had earlier also specifically directed the MCD to clearly indicate in its reply as to whether there are any statutory regulations regulating PG/hostels. It had also instructed DU to indicate as to how many outstation students are there in colleges affiliated to it and how many hostels are being run either by DU or the government.