SC junks plea against order rejecting PIL to halt Central Vista work
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a plea challenging the Delhi High Court order which had rejected a PIL seeking to halt Central Vista construction work in view of the COVID pandemic.
A bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar, Dinesh Maheshwari and Aniruddha Bose said it is not inclined to interfere with the high court order as the PIL petitioners had selectively chosen Central Vista project and did not even do basic research about other public projects which were allowed during the lockdown in the national capital.
It said the high court findings on the PIL that it was "motivated" and filed with "ill-intent" and "lack of bona fides" is a possible view. The top court also refused to interfere with the Rs 1 lakh cost imposed on the petitioners. The main Central Vista project 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. During the hearing, the bench said, if this was your conduct, then Rs 1 lakh cost was less , adding that when an affidavit was filed before the high court that the project was fully compliant with COVID protocols, then why did you pursue the case.
Senior advocate Siddharth Luthra, appearing for petitioners -- Anya Malhotra, a translator, and Sohail Hashmi, a historian and documentary film maker -- said that when the petition was filed they were non-compliant and later they have complied with the conditions. They were non-compliant from April 19 to April 30 , he said.
The bench said that being public spirited persons had they done research on how many projects were given permission to continue the construction activity and how they selected this Central project.
As a PIL petitioner, have you done any honest research as to how many other public projects were allowed and how did you pick up this project and say that it will be a super spreader of virus, the bench said.
Luthra said the petitioners were specific that they wanted order only with respect to stalling the construction activity which was not in compliance with the COVID protocol directions issued by Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA).
