News Analysis India

Tag: Central Vista Avenue Redevelopment Project

  • SC refuses to entertain plea for hearing on PIL for halting construction in Central Vista project

    By Express News Service
    NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday requested the Delhi High Court to consider hearing urgently a plea seeking suspension of construction activity on some stretches of the Central Vista project due to the rapid rise in COVID-19 cases in the capital.

    A bench of Justices Vineet Saran and Dinesh Maheshwari requested the Chief Justice of Delhi High Court to consider an urgent hearing. “Since the matter is pending before the high court and the appeal is against the order of adjournment, we are not inclined to enter into the merits of the case,” the bench said.

    The court was hearing a plea filed by Anya Malhotra and Sohail Hashmi, who had approached the high court, questioning the urgency in carrying on with construction activity on three stretches of the Central Vista area during the peak phase of the pandemic in the capital, when oxygen is in short supply and the healthcare system has collapsed.

    On May 4, a Delhi High Court bench led by Chief Justice DN Patel adjourned the matter to May 17, saying he needed some time to read the Supreme Court judgment of January 5, giving a clearance to the Central Vista Avenue Redevelopment Project.

    The long adjournment was challenged before the top court. The plea said that there is urgent need of stopping work, which entailed construction activity on Rajpath and the surrounding lawns from India Gate to Rashtrapati Bhawan.

  • PIL to halt Central Vista construction during COVID: HC wants to study SC order on project

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: A PIL in the Delhi High Court on Tuesday sought direction for the Centre to halt construction activity at the Central Vista Avenue Redevelopment Project during the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic.

    The PIL was opposed by the Centre before a bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Jasmeet Singh, which after hearing brief arguments, said it wants to first go through what the Supreme Court has deliberated in its judgement permitting the project.

    With this observation, the court adjourned the matter and posted the next hearing on May 17.

    Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma, who along with central government standing counsel Anurag Ahluwalia appeared for the Housing Ministry and Central Public Works Department, told the bench that a reply can be filed by the next date of hearing.

    Petitioners Anya Malhotra, who works as a translator, and Sohail Hashmi, a historian and documentary filmmaker, have claimed that the project has the potential to be a super spreader if allowed to continue during the pandemic.

    Senior advocate Siddharth Luthra, appearing for the petitioners, said the continuation of the project was a matter of concern in view of the “crumbling” healthcare system and the lives at stake of the workers employed at the construction site.

    The project entails construction activity on Rajpath and the surrounding lawns from India Gate to Rashtrapati Bhawan, the plea, filed through advocates Gautam Khazanchi and Pradyuman Kaistha, has said.

    The 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 petitioners have said, in their plea, that they are aware of the apex court decision permitting the project and are not trying to overreach it.

    They are only concerned that the continuing construction activity poses a threat to the lives of the citizens of Delhi and also the workers engaged in the project, the petition has said and added that the work going on there was in violation and breach of the orders of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority.

    “It is the respectful submission of the petitioners that at a time when the city of Delhi is grappling with a devastating corona virus outbreak, all efforts, particularly and more so by the state and its agencies, have to be towards controlling the spiraling situation.

    “The petitioners are also questioning why or how the project constitutes an ‘essential service’, merely because some executive mandated contractual deadline has to be met,” the plea has said.