E-Paper
Plea in SC against HC refusal to stay work on Central Vista
The petitioners -- Anya Malhotra and Sohail Hashmi -- were given one month to deposit the amount with the Delhi Legal Services Authority.
An appeal has been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the Delhi high court’s refusal to stop construction work at the Central Vista Redevelopment Project during the pandemic. The May 31 high court order held that the project was of “national importance”, needed to be completed by November 30 this year, and imposed a cost of ₹1 lakh on the petitioners for filing a “motivated” petition.
The petitioners -- Anya Malhotra and Sohail Hashmi -- were given one month to deposit the amount with the Delhi Legal Services Authority.
Hurt by the observations made by the high court, they said in their appeal: “The judgment, especially the imposition of exorbitant costs, has a chilling effect on public spirited individuals raising genuine issues of public health and on the right of citizens to question the actions of the government and to hold it to account, which it is submitted is the bedrock of democracy.”
Malhotra is a translator working for high ranking foreign and Indian diplomatic delegations, and Hashmi is a historian and documentary maker. Their appeal stated: “The impugned judgment apart from misconstruing the bonafide intention of the petitioners, without cause cast them in a negative light at the cost of their right to reputation.”
The petitioners contended that their only aim was to raise a public health and safety issue after coming to know that the construction work on the Central Vista Redevelopment Project site was going on at a time when the “catastrophic second wave” of Covid infections was ravaging Delhi. On May 3, when the petition was filed, the positivity rate in Delhi averaged at 29.74%, they said.
“Since it (construction work) had the potential of being a superspreader activity, on account of the to and fro movement of the workers from the site to their accommodation at Sarai Kale Khan, Karol Bagh, Kalkaji, Nizamuddin etc., it was posing a grave risk to the health and safety of the workers and the residents of Delhi,” the petition said. In this backdrop, the petitioners claimed that the work of the Central Vista Avenue Redevelopment Project is not an “essential activity” and should be suspended for the time being.
The Centre told the high court that, on April 19, permission was obtained from the police authorities for ferrying nearly 400 workers to the construction site. After May 1, before the petition came to be filed, on-site accommodation was provided to workers.
The high court bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and justice Jyoti Singh held: “Once the workers are staying at the site and all facilities have been provided, Covid-19 protocols are adhered to and Covid-19 appropriate behaviour is being followed, there is no reason for this Court while exercising powers under Article 226 of the Constitution of India to stop the project.”
It further noted that time is of the essence for a project of this nature set against a deadline of November 2021. It said, “The construction of Central Vista Avenue Redevelopment Project cannot be seen in isolation. In fact, the whole Central Vista Project is an essential project of national importance, where the sovereign functions of Parliament are also to be conducted. Public is vitally interested in this project.”
The petitioners, in their appeal filed through advocate Nitin Saluja told the Supreme Court said, “At a time when the city of Delhi was facing the fury of the raging pandemic, safeguarding the lives and the health of individuals ought to, and should have been prioritized over meeting a contractual deadline for a project.”
Moreover, the appeal claimed that even if on-site accommodation provided to workers after May 1 is to be accepted, the work carried out till then at the site was in violation of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority’s order allowing work at sites providing on-site accommodation.
