Keypoints:
- A PIL was dismissed by the High Court which sought stoppage of the construction activity terming it as “motivated”.
- Saying that the project was of National importance, the Delhi High Court had imposed Rs.1 lakh cost on the petitioners Anya Malhotra and Historian Sohail Hashmi.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court refused to stay the decision of the Delhi High Court which allowed the Central Vista Project in Delhi to continue. A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was dismissed by the High Court which sought stoppage of the construction activity terming it as “motivated”. Saying that the project was of National importance, the Delhi High Court had imposed Rs.1 lakh cost on the petitioners Anya Malhotra and Historian Sohail Hashmi.
It was observed by the bench of Justices AM Khanwilkar, Dinesh Maheshwari and Aniruddha Bose that the project activities were in compliance with all the Covid protocols.
Justice Khanwilkar said that, “Your concern was the project is non-compliant, but when there is a finding that it is compliant then how is the petition being pursued?”
Siddharth Luthra, who is a senior advocate appearing for petitioners Anya Malhotra and Sohail Hashmi has said that the activities were non-compliant from April 19 to April 30 when the plea was filed. Luthra said that later they complied with the conditions.
The High Court viewed that the petitioners had “selectively” challenged one project, to which the Supreme Court agreed with the High Courts’ view. The Supreme Court asked whether any research was conducted on similar construction works or were they signaling out the Vista project.
Justice Maheshwari asked, “Was honest research conducted about the kinds of construction work that were going on?” He added, “Is that reflection in your petition? As a PIL petitioner, did you research on how many topics were going on and only one project is picked up?”
The research was done and referred to the annexures in plea, said the petitioners’ counsel. He said, “We had challenged the permission obtained for Central Vista. “We also placed on record the DDMA (Delhi Disaster Management Authority) order which permitted the on-site construction. We placed on record the permission letter from CPWD (Central Public Works Department)…movement passes issued were also placed stating it should be allowed as it’s an essential service. We stated that its not an essential service.”
The petitioners should not have pursued the Public Interest Litigation before the High court further, said the Supreme Court. According to Hindustan Times, “Genuine PILs have caused problems”, said the court. “PILs have their own sanctity.”
