Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Jan 5: In a two-to-one majority judgement, the Supreme Court on Tuesday gave a go-ahead to the central government for the construction of the “Central Vista Re-development Project” envisaging refurbishing the nation’s power corridor, which included a new Parliament building, a common Central Secretariat and a renovated Rajpath stretching from Rashtrapati Bhavan to India Gate.
In its judgment on a bunch of petitions challenging the land use and environmental concerns of the project, the apex court upheld the exercise of power by the Centre as “just and valid” and confirmed the modifications in the change in land use. The recommendations of the environmental committee were also valid and proper, the three-judge bench said.
The three-judge bench, headed by justice AM Khanwilkar and comprising Justice Dinesh Maheshwari and justice Sanjiv Khanna, pronounced its decision on petitions focussing on various aspects of the project relating to grant of environmental clearance, violation of statutory and municipal laws, conservation of heritage, change of land use under the Delhi Development Act, and manner of inviting public hearing and objections involved with the Central Vista Redevelopment plan.
Justice Khanwilkar, writing the judgment for himself and Justice Dinesh Maheshwari, directed that the project proponent set up a smog tower and use anti-smoke guns at the construction site for the Central Vista project.
Justice Sanjiv Khanna also agreed on the issue of the award of the project. He, however, disagreed with the judgment on change of land use which he said was vitiated and bad in law. He noted there was no intelligible disclosure about the project for public participation.
Justice Khanna concluded that there was no prior approval from the Heritage Conservation Committee. He found that the environment clearance was a non-speaking order and added he did not want to go into the merits of the project but directed the project to be remitted back to the Heritage Conservation Committee for a public hearing. On the question of environmental clearance, he opined that it was a non-speaking order.
In November, the bench had reserved the verdict. On December 7, last year the top court had allowed the centre to proceed with the foundation stone laying ceremony performed by the prime minister Narendra Modi on the condition that no construction, demolition or felling of trees would be carried out pending the disposal of the case.
The Central Vista revamp, announced in September, 2019 envisages a new triangular Parliament building, with seating capacity for 900 to 1,200 Members of Parliament. The construction is targeted to be completed by August, 2022 when the country will be celebrating its 75th Independence Day.
The petitions challenged the December 21, 2019 notification by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) regarding changes in land use for the redevelopment.
Defending the project, the Centre had told the court that the existing Parliament building had many deficiencies, such as inadequacy of space, structural weaknesses and security issues. It said the Central Vista project would save the public exchequer of Rs 1,000 crore that the Government currently pay as rent for many of its offices. The Central Public Works Department (CPWD) had submitted that the current strength of the Lok Sabha had remained at 545 on delimitation carried out on the basis of the 1971 Census and that it is likely to increase substantially after 2026 when the cap ends.
On the need for the Central Vista, it said the present Parliament building “is almost 100 years old and a Heritage Grade-I building.” “Therefore, it is showing signs of distress due to over-utilisation and is not able to meet the current requirements in terms of space, amenities and technology. The building structure also does not satisfy the upgraded earthquake Zone IV provisions regarding safety,” it had said.
It had submitted that the decision to have a new Parliament building has not been taken in haste and no law or norms have been violated in any manner for the project.