SC allows foundation stone laying, but says no to construction of Central Vista project

Expressing displeasure over the way the Centre is "aggressively" going ahead with the construction work of the Central Vista, the Supreme Court on Monday allowed the foundation stone laying ceremony for the new Parliament building on December 10 but directed that no construction should take place.

This comes as Prime Minister Narendra Modi is slated to lay the foundation stone and perform 'Bhumi Pujan' for the construction of the new Parliament building, which is a part of the Rs 20,000 crores Central Vista project on December 10.

A bench of the apex court, headed by Justice AM Khanwilkar, observed that the Central government may lay down the foundation stone for the Central Vista project but no construction, demolition or felling of trees shall take place for the same.

The bench was hearing a batch of petitions, which were challenging the project related to the redevelopment of the Central Vista in the national capital and were even leveling certain allegations of violations in the project.

The top court issued the directions after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, on instructions from the Centre, assured that there will be no construction activity of any nature on the concerned sites nor will demolition of any structure be done, including further translocation of trees will be kept in abeyance until the pronouncement of judgment in all these cases.

"We take that statement on record," the bench said.

"In view of the above, we clarify 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 programme of foundation stone-laying on December 10, 2020," the bench, which also comprised of Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and Sanjiv Khanna said.

( With inputs from ANI )