[BREAKING] Delhi High Court agrees to hear tomorrow plea to halt Central Vista redevelopment construction

The Delhi High Court has agreed to hear tomorrow a plea seeking halt on construction activities relating to Central Vista redevelopment project. .The matter was mentioned before Chief Justice DN Patel by Senior Advocate Sidharth Luthra seeking early listing on account of health emergency due to COVID-19."Your lordship was pleased to keep it on 17th May. An SLP was filed..my request is that there is an emergency, a health emergency," Luthra said seeking an earlier date for hearing. "We are keeping it tomorrow," the Court said. .The Delhi High Court had earlier kept the matter for hearing on May 17 without passing any orders. The petitioners had then approached the Supreme Court against the same contending that the urgency and public health emergency sought to be addressed by the petition would stand defeated by adjourning the matter to May 17.The Supreme Court had on May 7 declined to interfere but granted petitioner liberty to mention the matter before the Chief Justice of Delhi High Court for early hearing.The Supreme Court also asked the High Court to consider the plea for early hearing favourably pursuant to which Luthra mentioned the matter today. .The Centre's redevelopment project in the Central Vista area of Lutyens Delhi envisages a new Parliament House, a new residential complex that will house the Prime Minister and the Vice-President, as well as several new office buildings and a Central Secretariat to accommodate Ministry offices.A three-judge Bench of the Supreme Court had, on January 5, given its green signal to the project, rejecting a batch of petitions challenging the scheme for alleged violation of land use and environmental norms.The petitioners in the present case have sought halt on the construction due to COVID-19 situation in the national capital and the threat posed by the construction work as a potential super spreader..The petitioners also submitted that they do not intend to overreach the Supreme Court judgment of January 5 which had given green signal for the project.They said that they are merely seeking a temporary halt on the construction work on account of the present public health crisis in the national capital.The plea contended that there is no rationale for classifying the Central Vista Project as an “essential service”, merely because some executive mandated contractual deadline is ostensibly required be met."In the current dismal scenario, this Project has no feature of “essentiality” for and/or of “service” to the public at large. In the absence of provision of on-site accommodation in this Project the impugned acts are totally contrary to and in gross violation of the Orders issued in the public interest by the Delhi Disaster Management Authority," the petition submitted.