Teesha
The Delhi High Court agreed to hear a plea seeking a stay on the construction activities under the Central Vista redevelopment project.
The court will take up the matter on 11th May, 2021.
The plea was addressed before Chief Justice DN Patel by Senior Advocate Sidharth Luthra.
Earlier the matter was listed for 17th May, however with respect to the special leave petition filed by Mr. Luthra on the account of health emergency due to COVID-19, the court has preponed it to 11th May.
The concern raised by the Special Leave Petition for seeking an earlier date was that, any delay in hearing the matter would result in failure of the concern raised by it.
As it is a public health emergency, true justice would be provided only if the issue is considered on an urgent basis.
Previously on 7th May, the Supreme Court had denied to interfere in the matter, however it gave the liberty to mention the matter for early hearing in front of the Chief Justice of Delhi High Court.
The Central Vista project intends to develop a new parliament, a new residential complex that will house the Prime Minister and the Vice- President, as well as many new office buildings and a Central Secretariat to house the ministry offices in Lutyens Delhi area.
Addressing the petitions challenging the scheme on the grounds of environmental and land use violations, the Supreme Court on 5th May gave a green signal to the project.
In the petition raised by Mr. Luthra it is contended that it is seeking for a temporary halt on the construction activities as it would expose the construction workers to the ills of the pandemic and might be a potential aid to the spread of the virus too.
The petition also clarifies that in no way it has intended to overreach the Supreme Court’s verdict of 5th May, which permitted the project.
“In the current dismal scenario, this Project has no feature of “essentiality” for and/or of “service” to the public at large. In the absence of provision of on-site accommodation in this Project the impugned acts are totally contrary to and in gross violation of the Orders issued in the public interest by the Delhi Disaster Management Authority,” the petition pleaded.
