COURTESY HT DEC 8

Halt activities, wait for verdict: Apex court pulls up central govt

Utkarsh Anand and Abraham Thomas

letters@hindustantimes.com

NEW DELHI : The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Centre to immediately stop all construction and ancillary activities in the historically significant Central Vista area of New Delhi where a new Parliament, Central Secretariat and union ministries’ offices are planned to be built.

With the court rebuking the Centre for reportedly going ahead with constructions and shifting of trees in the area without waiting for a final judgment on validity of the Central Vista redevelopment plan, the government had to furnish an apology and record an undertaking to restrain itself.

“We thought we were dealing with a prudent litigant,” the SC bench, led by justice AM Khanwilkar, told solicitor general Tushar Mehta, who represented the Central government in the bunch of petitions that have challenged the Central Vista plan over change of land use, conservation of heritage structures and environmental regulations.

The bench, which included justices Dinesh Maheshwari and Sanjiv Khanna, referred to a recent press release issued by the government as well as certain media reports about how trees were being shifted since the construction on the proposed site may begin this month.

“The fact that there is no stay does not mean you can go ahead with everything. We did not expect you to go ahead and start construction so aggressively. We only allowed you to go ahead with the paperwork but we are now concerned over all this,” it said. The bench reminded Mehta that the court order on March 6 this year clearly recorded that everything the authorities do pertaining to the redevelopment project would be subject to its judgment.

“We showed you some deference when we did not pass a specific order of stay on that date (March 6). We expected you to also show deference to this court. But now, we want to make it clear. No constructions, no demolition, no cutting of trees till we finally decide,” the bench told Mehta.

At this, the solicitor general requested the bench to give him time till Tuesday to come back with instructions, as he added that some trees might have already been translocated, but that the construction is still two months away. In response, the bench asked Mehta to seek instructions from authorities on the phone right away