The petitioners of the Public Interest Litigation to stop the construction of the Central Vista project after receiving a serious rapping and a fine from the Delhi High Court have been destroyed in the Supreme Court as their petition found no takers in the country’s apex court.
In a major blow to the naysayers of the Central Vista project, the Supreme Court refused to stay the Delhi High Court’s earlier decision which allowed the project work in the national capital to go on. The Delhi HC had dismissed a PIL that sought stoppage of construction activity and termed it “motivated”.
The Supreme Court observed that the Delhi HC was right in concluding that the petitioners were selective in choosing the Central Vista project alone and did not research about such similar public projects where construction was ongoing.
The three-judge bench of Supreme Court stated, “Genuine PILs have done wonders, but questionable PILs have caused problems. PILs have their own sanctity.”
On May 31, the Delhi HC had stated that the construction of the Central Vista was ‘vital’ as it junked the PIL calling it ‘motivated’ while also levelling a fine of Rs 1 lakh on the petitioners.
The Delhi HC bench observed that, the “construction activity of this essential project or of a project of national importance cannot be stopped especially when the conditions imposed by the order of the DDMA are not flouted or violated.”
It further observed that by no stretch of imagination can it be said that, “Central Vista Project (which is the main project) or Central Vista avenue redevelopment project is not an essential project. The Central Vista avenue redevelopment project, which is a subset of the main project, is equally important and essential as the main project.”
Coming down heavily on the petitioners, the bench stated that, “we are of the view that this is a motivated petition preferred by the petitioners and not a genuine PIL. In view of that, the petition is dismissed with costs of Rs 1 lakh to be deposited by the petitioners with the Delhi State Legal Services Authority within four weeks from today.”
The Supreme Court’s decision perhaps nails the final coffin in the nefarious attempts to stop the construction of the crucial Central Vista project which will pave the way for the much delayed expansion of the parliament.