The Supreme Court of India cleared on Monday that the Central Government can carry out the stone foundation laying ceremony of the Central Vista redevelopment project. The date for the ceremony is December 10.
However, it was also stated that no construction or demolition can take place for now, considering some petitions are challenging the same at the Court. The court has asked to wait till it decides on the matter.
The Order was passed by the Bench of Hon’ble Justices, AM Khanwilkar, Dinesh Maheshwari and Sanjiv Khanna.
Solicitor General, representing the Central Government of India stated that the current buildings are not safe, earthquake proof and there is lack of space. Also, security reasons were cited by him, highlighting the 2001-Parliament Attacks in Delhi.
Further, the Court reiterated:
“After interacting with the Solicitor General and when the concern of the Court was expressed, on instructions, the Solicitor General stated that there will be no construction activity of any nature on the concerned site(s) nor demolition of any structure will be done, including the further trans-location of tree(s) will be kept in abeyance, until the pronouncement of judgment in all these cases. We take that statement on record”.
The Court clarified that:
“The authorities would be free to continue with procedural processes without altering the status of the site(s) in question in any manner, including to continue with the scheduled progmramme of foundation stone-laying on 10th December 2020”.