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Delhi HC agrees to hear plea seeking interim stay on Central Vista project
On Tuesday, the Centre filed an affidavit detailing that the workers are staying on the site and the petitioners have deliberately suppressed facts in filing the plea to stop the construction work
The Delhi high court on Wednesday will hear a plea contending that the Central Vista project be put on hold during the pandemic as it is not an essential activity.
The petitioners have also filed an application seeking appointment of a local commissioner to verify the Centre’s claims, made through its detailed affidavit, that workers engaged in the construction of the Central Vista project are staying on site and have been provided all necessary health care.
The Central Vista project envisages a new Parliament House, Prime Minister’s residence, Vice-President’s residence, as well as several new office buildings and a Central Secretariat to accommodate ministry offices.
On Tuesday, the Centre filed an affidavit detailing that the workers are staying on the site and the petitioners -- Anya Malhotra, who works as a translator, and Sohail Hashmi, a historian and documentary filmmaker -- have deliberately suppressed facts in filing the plea to stop the construction work.
Since the affidavit was not yet on record, a bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and justice Jasmeet Singh listed the matter for hearing on May 12.
It said a Covid compliant facility was installed at the site to accommodate 250 workers who had chosen to stay there and continue the work.It has also said that there is strict adherence to Covid protocol. “It is unequivocally stated that the workers working on the project as of now, are residing at the work site, following social distancing norms as well as other Covid-19 protocols,” it said.
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Citing media reports, the petitioners had asked the Centre why permission was sought for movement of as many as 180 vehicles. “Nowhere in the affidavit is there a disclosure, or response to the averments of the 500 subcontracted workers engaged in the construction of the Central Vista before the curfew who were formerly transported in four buses and were then ferried in a reduced number of such vehicles,” the application said.
The petitioners sought that a local commissioner be appointed to verify the various factual assertions made by the Centre, including the submission that the labourers are residing on site.
“It also needs to be verified whether the on-site facilities as claimed are compliant of Covid protocols and what health and testing facilities have been made for the workers on site,” the application read.
The petitioners had moved the apex court against the high court’s May 4 order adjourning their plea to May 17. The high court had adjourned the matter saying it first wants to study the apex court’s January 5 judgment giving a go-ahead to the Central Vista project.
In the appeal before the Supreme Court, the petitioners contended that the project was not an essential activity and therefore, it can be put on hold during the pandemic.
The apex court had declined to interfere in the matter as the issue was pending before the high court, asking the petitioners to seek an early hearing before the high court. Subsequently, they moved an application to advance the matter.
