Petitioners Appeal Against Delhi HC Order on Central Vista

New Delhi: A plea in the Supreme Court has challenged the Delhi high court’s recent decision to dismiss a public interest litigation seeking a stay on the Central Vista project. The high court had also imposed a cost of Rs 1 lakh on petitioners Sohail Hashmi and Anya Malhotra, saying the petition was “motivated” and “not a genuine PIL”.

The petitioners, who had said construction work on the Central Vista was dangerous in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, have asked the Supreme Court for a stay on the high court order as interim relief, LiveLaw reported.

The high costs imposed on them, the petitioners said in their appeal to the Supreme Court, could have a chilling effect on citizens who want to hold the government to account and raise genuine concerns.

The petitioners have said they were only requesting a stay on construction until the pandemic is brought under control, but the high court treated the matter as if they wanted to “stop the work per se”. Findings of the high court were unsubstantiated and its observations adverse, they have continued.

The high court, the petitioner had told the Supreme Court, simply relied on what was told to them by the respondents (the Union of India and Shapoorji Pallonji), without carrying out any independent investigation.

Malhotra and Hashmi, both citizens of Delhi, were concerned by the super-spreading potential and threat posed by the construction activity at the Central Vista Avenue Redevelopment Project which entails construction activity on Rajpath and the surrounding lawns from India Gate to Rashtrapati Bhawan. They sought a halt to all construction activity at the project in compliance with orders issued by the Delhi Disaster Management Authority, during the subsistence of this peak phase of the pandemic.

Though the Delhi high court has said that construction activity must continue at the site, reports have highlighted how Malhotra and Hashmi’s fears may not have been unfounded. A Scroll.in investigation found that three workers at the project site have contracted COVID-19, and others are living in cramped spaces where social distancing is not possible.