The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear a petition to stay the construction work of the Central government’s Central Vista project amid the surge in Covid-19 cases.
The petition moved by Anya Malhotra and Sohail Hashmi asked the Supreme Court to suspend all construction activity of the Central Vista Avenue Redevelopment Project in compliance with orders issued by the Delhi Disaster Management Authority during the subsistence of the peak phase of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
The Supreme Court said, “we’ll see it.” However, the Apex Court did not give a date for hearing the matter.
The Apex Court also asked the petitioner’s lawyer to first circulate the case details to parties and file for hearing before it the appeal filed against yesterday’s Delhi High Court order over plea to stay work of Central Vista project.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Delhi High Court said it will hear on May 17 in detail the plea seeking direction to halt/suspend all construction activity of the Central Vista Avenue Redevelopment Project in compliance with orders issued by the Delhi Disaster Management Authority during the subsistence of the peak phase of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
In December 2020, the Central Vista Development Project was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The project intends to revamp 86 acres of land in Delhi, which includes Rajpath, Parliament House, Rashtrapati Bhavan, India Gate, North Block, and South Block, Shastri Bhavan, India Gate, and Udyog Bhavan. The project envisages the construction of a new Parliament building, a common secretariat for central government offices, the Prime Minister’s office, and residence, the Special Protection Group building, and Vice-President Enclave.
The construction work for the project is being carried out since January 5, 2021, after the Supreme Court dismissed petitions challenging the project.