NEW DELHI, May 31: In a victory of sorts for the centre going ahead with the construction of the Central Vista project despite Covid pandemic, the Delhi High Court on Monday dismissed a plea seeking to halt its construction work saying it was a project of “national importance.” The court also ruled that the plea for halting the construction was a “motivated petition.”
The high court said the Public Interest Litigation or PIL was not genuine and also imposed a fine of ₹1 lakh on the petitioners citing lack of bonafide on their side.
A bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh was hearing the plea by Anya Malhotra, a translator, and Sohail Hashmi, a historian and documentary filmmaker, seeking to halt the ongoing part redevelopment of the Central Vista Avenue which includes both sides of Rajpath where Republic Day celebration are held. They contended that the project was not an essential activity and therefore, could be put on hold for now during the coronavirus pandemic.
The bench said clearance to the project has already been upheld by the Supreme Court. There is no question of suspending the work since the workers are residing at the construction site, the bench said, adding that the work on the project has to be completed in a time-bound manner.
“The whole Central Vista is an essential project of national importance where the sovereign functions of the Parliament will be conducted. The public is widely interested in this project,” it said.
Stating that Covid-19 safety protocols are being followed and there is no reason to stall construction, the court said the workers are staying at the site and all the facilities have been provided to them.
On May 17, the court reserved its order on the plea. The petitioners moved the Supreme Court against the high court’s May 4 order adjourning their plea to May 17. The high court adjourned the matter saying it wanted to study the top court’s January 5 judgment giving a go-ahead to the Central Vista project.
The Centre had sought dismissal of the petition terming it as “one more attempt” to stall the project. It had also argued that the PIL was a facade to “satisfy some kind of a vanity in mind of certain individuals”. The government had also contended that the DDMA on April 19 has permitted construction activities during curfew where labourers are residing on-site.
“Such attempts are going on since the inception of the project under one pretext or the other and in one name or the other,” the union government had said in a reply to the petition, while arguing the case deserves to be dismissed with “exemplary costs” on the ground “that it is an abuse of the process of law”.
Senior Advocate Siddharth Luthra, representing the petitioners, had argued the petitioners are in no manner seeking to overreach the Supreme Court judgement permitted the Central Vista and the prayer to stop the construction was limited to construction during the peak phase of pandemic.
“When we came to your lordships, we were afraid their dereliction was going to lead to an Auschwitz on the gardens of Central Delhi, on the gardens of India Gate,” Luthra argued on May 17.
Malhotra and Hashmi in the petitioner also had asked “why or how the project constitutes an ‘essential service’ merely because some executive mandated contractual deadline has to be met”.
The Central Vista project envisages constructing a new Parliament House, a new residential complex that will house the Prime Minister and the vice president, as well as several new office buildings and a central secretariat to accommodate ministry offices.
The new parliament complex and buildings that are being built as part of the Central Vista redevelopment project will have parking for about 16,000 cars and while that may mean a likely increase in traffic volume in the area, enough mitigation measures will be put in place to ensure there is no congestion or impact on traffic movement, the architectural consultant for the project said.
Lutyens’ Delhi’s key roads will need to be upgraded to 4-8 lanes by 2031 to accommodate the growth in traffic, both routine and on account of the Central Vista project, according to a traffic impact analysis.
(Manas Dasgupta)