Rs 1 lakh cost for plea to halt Central Vista work, Delhi High Court says project 'vital & essential'

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Monday imposed a cost of Rs 1 lakh on a translator and a historian-cum-documentary filmmaker while disposing of their plea seeking a temporary suspension of the construction work for the Central Vista Avenue redevelopment, as a bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Jyoti Singh ruled that the project, as part of the larger Central Vista project, was "vital and essential" and the scope of work on the Central Vista Avenue specifically made it important for it to be completed by the November deadline.

The Central Vista Avenue redevelopment entails construction activities on Rajpath and the surrounding lawns from the India Gate to the Rashtrapati Bhawan. While imposing the cost and disposing of the petition, the court also said the plea was filed with "ill-intent" and had a "lack of bona fides", chiefly because the court ruled the project did not violate any DDMA guidelines.

Importantly, the chief contention here was that when Delhi imposed its second-wave-induced lockdown on April 19, the DDMA had prohibited all construction activities — unless they were "essential" or had workers residing within the worksite.

After this, several news reports pointed out that the Central Vista Avenue redevelopment was continuing with labourers who were not residing at the worksite. Within days, reports also surfaced of many workers of the site falling sick and the CPWD had disclosed that in May, three workers had tested positive for COVID-19.

In their submissions, the petitioners had pointed out that the construction activity was not "essential" and was violative of the DDMA order because workers were not particularly living on-site. However, the court's decision came after the Centre submitted that they were aware of this technicality and had sought special permission for the movement of their staff from the concerned authority, thereby leaving them in compliance with all rules and regulations. The Centre admitted that the construction work was being continued with workers from outside the worksite but with permission that was granted to them on April 19 itself. It said this was done because they needed time to set up living quarters and other amenities for workers to be living on site. The court agreed with the Centre.

It went on to note based on the Centre's submissions that six different agencies (CPWD, DDA, DMRC, etc.) were similarly continuing construction activities at as many as 16 other locations in the city and the petitioners had not mentioned anything about it, prompting the court to remark that this was "not a genuine Public Interest Litigation".

The high court said the legality of the project was already upheld by the Supreme Court and even the Delhi Disaster Management Authority allowed it to continue. Giving reasons for its decision, the bench said all the orders issued by the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) from April 6 to April 25 do not prohibit construction activity where the labourers reside on site as was the situation in the present case.

"...since the workers who are working at the project are staying on-site, no question of issuing directions to suspend the work of Central Vista Avenue redevelopment project, whatsoever, arises," it said.

The high court also said from the affidavits filed by the Centre and the contractor — Shapoorji Pallonji and Company Pvt Ltd (SPCPL) — it was "clearly evident" that several facilities, like accommodation, medical facilities and Covid care centre, have been provided to the workers at the site.

The bench also added that the petitioners — Anya Malhotra, a translator, and Sohail Hashmi, a historian and documentary filmmaker — "have selectively chosen only one project which is of national importance, at a vital place where Republic Day celebrations are held in Delhi and is a part and parcel of the larger Central Vista Project" when several other construction projects were also going on in the city.

Hours after the order was pronounced, Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri said a false narrative was being spun around the Central Vista project and that "no heritage building would be touched". He went on to say that the cost for the expensive revamp was justified and had no bearing on the Centre's efforts to procure vaccines for the country.

Puri asserted that no design had been cleared for a new Prime Minister's residence and only two projects — the Parliament building and the widening of the central vista stretch — were on track.