A petition seeking quashing of the approval of the government’s proposal to construct a new Parliament by the Central Vista Committee in April is likely to come up in the Supreme Court on Thursday.
The petition, filed by architect and conservationist A.G.K. Menon and others on July 1, was listed for admission on Thursday, according to the apex court’s online causelist as seen on Tuesday. Hearings in ongoing matters related to the project are also scheduled for Thursday.
The petitioners challenged the no-objection observation given by the CVC to the project in its meeting on April 23, terming the decision “irrational, unreasonable, arbitrary, contrary to the well-settled principles of fair play...”.
The CVC members, who represent the Indian Institute of Architects and the Institute of Town Planners, did not attend the meeting that took place during the lockdown. The project proposed by the Central Public Works Department under the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs was approved, with the observation that the new Parliament building should be “in sync” with the existing Parliament, according to the minutes of the meeting.
“It is respectfully submitted at the outset that only four architect/town planners out of the total 11 members of the Committee, which is required ‘to bring the entire area under strict architectural control’, were present at the meeting and the meeting was convened in the absence of the four representatives/experts of professional bodies who requested to defer the meeting because of the nation-wide lockdown and strict restrictions on movement and their inability to use video conferencing as the mode for attending the meeting,” the petition said.
Neither architect nor town planner
The petitioners noted that CVC chairperson, CPWD Additional Director General (Works) Anant Kumar was “neither an architect nor a town planner”, but “an engineer with specialisation in road maintenance”.
The petitioners said the CVC decision would lead to damage to heritage and environment and wastage of public money. The CVC or special advisory group of the Central Vista and Central Secretariat, is meant to advise the government on the feasibility of any alterations to the Central Vista, which stretches from the Rashtrapati Bhavan till India Gate, as well as bringing the area under architectural control.
The CVC had “failed to consider that Parliament house is the birthplace of the Constitution of India and the Central Vista is where the Constitution has manifested itself into a real living entity and not just a document... It is therefore, submitted that Respondent No.2 [the CVC] has failed in its duty of sparing no effort for protection and preservation of the Parliament House and the Central Vista”.
The petitioners include architect Ashok Dhawan, retired bureaucrat Ashok Vajpeyi, artist Vivan Sundaram, activist and former member of the Planning Commission Syeda Hameed, chairperson of the NGO Dastkar Laila Tyabji, architect Raka Chakravarty and vice president of the Indian Society of Labour Economics Ritu Dewan.
“They [petitioners] are not mere busybodies but are people who understand the significance that the Parliament building has not only in terms of its heritage or architectural value, but also in terms of the emotional attachment that every Indian feels towards this birthplace of Indian democracy,” the petition stated.