Delhi High Court notice to NHAI on plea seeking stay on Dwarka Expressway construction

The Delhi High Court on Monday issued notice to National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) on an application seeking stay on the construction of Dwarka Expressway [Rao CGHS Ltd (New Millenium CGHS) and Ors v National Highways Authority of India and Ors]..A Division Bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh directed the respondents to file their replies by March 15 when the case will be taken up next..The application was moved in an already pending appeal before the High Court with similar prayers.Though the Court had issued notices on the plea in September last year, the petitioner has now alleged the authorities are going on with the construction with scant regard for the project’s impact on environment and residents of the area..The plea, filed through advocate Anand Varma and argued by Senior Advocate Prashant Bhushan, stated that construction activity is going on in Sectors 22 and 23 in Dwarka under the guise of executing the Dwarka Expressway Package 2 without mandatory permissions and approvals.Bhushan told the court that though notices were issued by the Court to the respondents nearly six months back but the case could not be taken up for hearing since then. Yet the authorities continued with the construction in absence of environmental clearance or public consultation, he argued..Though Bhushan prayed for an ex-parte stay on the project on the grounds that there was gross violation of norms, the Court denied the request. .It was also submitted that there are a large number of colonies and schools in the area where the highway is being built and even the Supreme Court has held that public consultation in matters like this is required. “The Respondents, taking advantage of the pendency of the matter, have proceeded apace with the construction activities at the site of the impugned construction by deploying more manpower and machinery. Despite repeated objections by the Appellants, the Respondents have now resorted to full-fledged construction of the flyover by undertaking activities which include but are not limited to digging of the roads and construction of pillars in the concerned area,” the application argued..Earlier, a single-judge bench of Delhi High Court had dismissed the petition on the ground that no Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) clearance was needed for the project. The order was challenged before the Supreme Court which said that the relief against the order lies before a Division Bench of the High Court through Letters Patent Appeal.The Court has since been seized of the matter.