Supreme Court Approves Central Vista Project
The Supreme Court, in a majority judgment, on January 5 gave the green signal for the multi-crore Central Vista redevelopment project. The project envisages refurbishing the nation’s power corridor, which includes a new Parliament building, a common Central Secretariat and a renovated Rajpath stretching from Rashtrapati Bhavan to India Gate. The majority opinion by Justice A.M. Khanwilkar, who headed the three-judge Bench, and Justice Dinesh Maheshwari said the change in land use under the Delhi Development Authority Act in the restricted zone was just and proper. Both judges upheld the exercise of power by the Centre to change the land use of the Master Plan 2021. The court did not find any infirmity in the grant of approval by the Central Vista Committee or the Heritage Conservation Committee. The judges said there was no need for approval at the incipient stage of a project but it should be sought when the project materialized on the ground. However, Justice Sanjeev Khanna, the third judge on the Bench, said land use change for the project was vitiated and bad in law. He noted there was no intelligible disclosure about the project for public participation. Justice Khanna concluded that there was no prior approval from the Heritage Conservation Committee. He found that the environment clearance was a non-speaking order and added he did not want to go into the merits of the project but directed the project to be remitted back to the Heritage Conservation Committee.