Central Vista Project: SC to first take up challenge to ‘land use’ on August 25

The Supreme Court on Thursday remarked that it shall take up the issue of "land use" in the plea seeking quashing of the approval of the government's proposal to construct a new Parliament by the Central Vista Committee.

While adjourning the case to August 25, a bench of Justices AM Khanwilkar, Dinesh Maheshwari & Sanjiv Khanna observed that the plea(s) have classified by the bench into the following categories: "Land use, Municipal laws, Environmental Clearances & General Declarations & other issues" & that the issue of land use would be taken up first.

Senior Advocate Shyam Divan appearing for the petitioner(s) submitted that his writ petition which was allowed to be filed on July 29, thereby expanding scope of the hearing to include issues of Environmental Clearances granted on June 17 was also required to be decided. He urged for notice to be issued on his fresh petition.

Justice Khanwilkar, while refusing to issue notice on the plea remarked that this would only be necessary if the issue of land use is not allowed. "Please understand, if land use decided in favour of petitioner, then we will not go into the other issues as the project will be stalled. Why increase the burden?" he said.

The Court however allowed Divan to serve advance copy on the Respondents and adjourned the case to August 25 at 10.30 AM.

The Court will begin hearing the batch of pleas, two of which have been filed by Rajeev Suri & Lt. Col. (Retd.) Anuj Srivastava.

In March, the Supreme Court had transferred to itself the petitions pending in Delhi High Court challenging the Central Vista Project.

On July 22, the Central Public Works Department had filed an affidavit stating that a new Parliament building was necessary as the existing building was old, unsafe and packed to capacity.

Background & Chronology:

The two pleas already before the top court contend that 20th March notification of the Government, which supersedes a Public Notice issued by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) on 19 December, 2019, is a subjugation of the Rule of Law and judicial protocol as the 2019 notice is currently sub judice before the Supreme Court.

With regard to the government's Rs. 20,000 crore Central Vista project, the DDA had issued a Public Notice inviting objections against proposed changes in land use in December 2019.

This notification was challenged before the Delhi High Court on account of being ultra vires Section 11A of the Delhi Development Act 1957, as well as being beyond the powers of DDA to do so. It was further contested that the plan was not in conformity with the Master Plan of Delhi 2021 (MPD2021) and in violation of "larger laws of the country".

On March 6, a Bench comprising of Justices AM Khanwilkar and Dinesh Maheshwari transferred the matter to itself.

On March 20, 2020 the Centre notified a change in land use pertaining to approximately 86 acres of land in the heart of Lutyens Delhi, marked by structures like the Parliament, Rashtrapati Bhavan, India Gate, North Block and South Block amongst others. The same petitioner then moved the apex court with a fresh plea against the Centre's notification.

Urging the Court to quash the March 2020 notification issued by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, the instant plea avers that the decision was in violation of a citizen's extended version of Right to Life guaranteed under Article 21. Calling it a brash move, the plea claims that it would deprive people of enjoying highly treasured open and green spaces.

The plea further invokes Article 49 of the Constitution to assert that the State is obligated to protect places and objects of national importance. Citing the Public Trust Doctrine to buttress this point, the plea urges that it is "upon the State to protect such resources for the use of the general public, rather than to permit it only for use of a certain class or section of the people."

On April 30, the Supreme Court refused to stay the project, stating that "during COVID-19, nobody is going to do anything", referring to possible construction on the allocated land.

On 19 June, the Central Government informed the Supreme Court that it could not give an assurance that no work on the ground would be done with respect to the Central Vista project, despite Hegde submitting that administrative clearances were being given, with no objections. The

Bench, however, raised the question whether the apex court could restrain the authorities from acting as per the law.