The Supreme Court on Monday pulled up the Centre for ‘moving forward aggressively’ with the construction work of Central Vista project. While hearing a bunch of petitions, the top court clearly stated that the foundation stone can be laid but no construction, demolition or felling of trees should take place at the Central Vista project till it ‘decides the pending pleas on the issue’.
According to the reports of Bar and Bench, the court further observed, “We never thought you will go ahead so aggressively with construction. The fact that there is no stay does not mean you can go ahead with everything.”
“You can lay the foundation stone, you can carry on paperwork but no construction or demolition, no cutting down any trees,” a three-judge bench comprising Justices AM Khanwilkar, Dinesh Maheshwari and Sanjiv Khanna told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta.
On November 5, the apex court had reserved its verdict on a batch of pleas which have raised questions over the Centre’s ambitious Central Vista project, which covers three km stretch from Rashtrapati Bhavan to India Gate in Lutyens’ Delhi.
Mehta had earlier argued in the apex court that the project would “save money” which is paid as rent for housing central government ministries in the national capital.
Mehta had submitted that the decision to have a new parliament building has not been taken in a haste and no law or norms have been violated in any manner for the project.
The Centre had also said there was no arbitrariness or favouritism in selecting a consultant for the project and the argument that the government could have adopted a better process cannot be a ground to scrap the project.
Gujarat-based architecture firm HCP Designs has won the consultancy bid for the project to redevelop the Central Vista.
The top court is hearing several pleas on the issue, including the one filed by activist Rajeev Suri, against various permissions given to the project by authorities including the nod to change of land use.
Earlier, the apex court had said that any change at the ground level made by authorities for the Central Vista project will be “at their own risk”.
It had made it clear that the fate of the project, which includes several new government buildings and a new Parliament House, will depend on its decision.
The pleas have also challenged the grant of a no-objection certificate by the Central Vista Committee (CVC) and also the environmental clearances for the construction of a new parliament house building.
The revamp, which was announced in September last year, envisages a new triangular Parliament building, with seating capacity for 900 to 1,200 MPs, that is targeted to be constructed by August, 2022 when the country will be celebrating its 75th Independence Day. The common Central Secretariat is likely to be built by 2024.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone on December 10 for the new Parliament building and the construction is expected to be completed by 2022 at an estimated cost of Rs 971 crore, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla had said on December 5.
