The Supreme Court on 5th January gave the green signal to the Central Vista Project,
which comprises of construction of the new parliament building
and refurbishing old government buildings.
It is one of the most ambitious projects of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's regime.
Few petitions were filed against the project.
However the government pushed the project saying redevelopment was the need of the hour.
One of the petitioner, Rajeev Suri,
challenged the notification issued by DDA on 21st December which pertained to land use changes.
Another petitioner, Meena Gupta, a former Secretary of the Ministry of Environment and Forests,
argued the project will be detrimental to the environment.
Many other petitions were filed against the project.
In November, a 3 judge bench
AM Khanwilkar, Dinesh Maheshwari, and Sanjiv Khanna reserved the verdict on the project.
However, last month, SC said contruction of the new parliament cannot begin
but permitted the ground-breaking ceremony by PM Modi.
The construction will be on hold till the petitions are heard.
The Central Government's lawyer Tushar mehta defended the project fiercely in court.
He drew the SC attention to the security issues and structural weaknesses of the existing building.
The new parliament will ensure better security and will be strong as well.
Since offices in the parliament were at full capacity, the government had to rent nearby offices.
Rs 1,000 crore would be paid as rent.
The new parliament will be able to occupy all the offices and the rent money can be saved.
The Centre plans to conserve the existing Parliament building as an archaeological asset.
While giving the approval to the project,
the bench said that under the DDA's exercise of power was valid.
The apex court added that
the heritage conservation committee’s approval will be needed for Central Vista project to begin.
They ordered that smog towers be set up as an integral part of the central vista project.
Smog towers will help to purify the polluted air and it will be mandatory.
These should be an integral part of the project and there must be no mistakes later.
The court also agreed with clearances given by the Ministry of Environment.
However, Justice Khanna disagreed with his colleagues for land use changes.