Central Vista project, including new Parliament, faced many court cases

NEW DELHI: The ambitious redevelopment project of the nation’s power corridor, Central Vista, which includes the new Parliament building inaugurated on Sunday, faced several legal challenges in the last few years.

The project was announced in September 2019 and Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of the new Parliament building on December 10, 2020.

All the controversies or disputes related to the project have been invariably landing in the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court, the latest being a PIL by a lawyer seeking a direction to the Lok Sabha Secretariat for the inauguration of the new Parliament building by President Droupadi Murmu. Two days before the inauguration of Parliament by Prime Minister Modi, a vacation bench of the top court junked the PIL filed by Tamil Nadubased lawyer Jaya Sukin.

The first court case against the project was filed in 2020 in the Delhi High Court by Rajeev Suri and Anuj Srivastava and others assailing the grant of Environmental Clearance and the approval by the Delhi Urban Art Commission (DUAC) and the Heritage Conservation Committee for land use change as per the DDA Act and selection of design consultant.

On February 11, 2020, a single judge bench of Justice Rajiv Shakdher of the high court directed the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) to approach the court before notifying any change to the Master Plan for going ahead with the project. The Centre challenged the order before a division bench of the high court which on February 28, 2020, stayed its single judge’s direction to the DDA.

Later, the top court, in March 2020, transferred to itself the matter from the Delhi High Court in “larger public interest” and it also heard other fresh petitions challenging the project together. The Supreme Court, on January 5, 2021, came out with its verdict and, by a majority of 2:1, gave the green signal to the Rs 13,500 -crore Central Vista revamp project, holding there was “no infirmity” in the grant of environment clearance and permissions for change of land use.

Then, in April 2021, translator Anya Malhotra and historian and documentary filmmaker Sohail Hashmi filed a PIL in Delhi High Court seeking suspension of construction work, raising health and other safety concerns during the second wave of the pandemic.