Delhi High Court refuses to stay work on 'vital and essential' Central Vista project

The Delhi High Court on Monday allowed the construction work of the Central Vista project to continue, saying it was a "vital and essential" national project.

A bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh dismissed a plea seeking to halt the project during the coronavirus pandemic, saying the petition was "motivated" and "not a genuine PIL". It imposed a cost of Rs one lakh on the petitioners, according to LiveLaw.

Stating that the project is an essential project of national importance, the court said sovereign functions of parliament are also going to be conducted there and the public is vitally interested in this project, as per a report in The Indian Express. “Since the workers who are working at the project are staying on site and COVID-19 protocols are being adhered to, there is no question of issuing directions to suspend the work of Central Vista Avenue Redevelopment Project,” said the court, adding the DDMA in the 19 April order has not prohibited construction activity where labourers are residing on-site.

The court said under the contract awarded to the Shapoorji Pallonji Group, work had to be completed by November 2021 and, therefore, it should to be allowed to continue. It said the legality of the project was already upheld by the Supreme Court.

The court on 17 May had reserved its judgement in the case, which was being heard following a petition that voiced concern over the “super spreading potential and threat” posed by the continuing construction at the project site and the plight of the workers who are being exposed to COVID-19 .

Centre had sought dismissal of the petition and termed it another attempt to stall the project. “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 Centre’s reply to the petition had stated. Meanwhile, the petitioners’ counsel Sidharth Luthra had likened the project to “Auschwitz", a German concentration camp during the Second World War.

The project, which entails construction activities on Rajpath and the surrounding lawns from India Gate to Rashtrapati Bhawan, envisages building a new Parliament House, a new residential complex to house offices and the Prime Minister and the Vice President. It will also have new office buildings and a Central Secretariat to accommodate various ministries’ offices.