"We Are Not Aware And We Don't Want To Be Aware (The Inside Story)": Courtroom Exchange In Central Vista Hearing

The Supreme Court on Friday required the plea seeking the suspension of the Central Vista construction amid the peak of the pandemic in Delhi to be mentioned before the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court on Monday to be listed as early as possible.The Supreme Court bench of Justices Vineet Saran and Dinesh Maheshwari was considering the SLP against the Delhi High Court's adjournment to May 17 of the plea for suspension of all kinds of construction activity in relation to the Central Vista Redevelopment Project in compliance of the orders issued by the Delhi Disaster Management Authority in wake of the covid 19 surge in the national capital.When the item was called out, SG Tushar Mehta sought to submit, "I am here, Your Lordships...The High Court has kept it on the 17th (of May)"Justice Saran: Who is appearing for the petitioner? We have to first hear the petitioner!SG: I understand, but this is...Senior advocate Siddharth Luthra for the petitioner: This is not an adversarial matter, to borrow the words of The Solicitor from the oxygen matter. The issue is very simple. We are not concerned with the project. It has been allowed in January. We can't go beyond that...SG: One thing, I am taking it as adversarial. And this is a PIL, I have a serious objection to it...The High Court has kept the matter on 17th. This adjournment is under challenge before Your Lordships...Justice Saran: Why do you think we haven't seen the file, Mr. Mehta?SG: I'm sorry, My Lords.Mr. Luthra: From my point of view, it is not adversarial. Since it is my petition, I am entitled to break that assumption. Where issues like health are involved, it ought not to be adversarial.Proceeding to elaborate his case, Mr. Luthra advanced: Till 3 May, 2021, the positivity rate in Delhi has shot from 3.57 to 30%. This is the report of a High Powered Committee in Delhi. The deaths have gone up from 9 to 440.We are not even counting the non-Covid deaths. This matter needs consideration. At the outset, I must tell Your Lordships that before the High Court, we made a very simple submission. We said that the Parliament work has to go on with the on-site workers. We are only concerned with the 3 1/2 or 4 kilometres stretch from Sarai Kale Khan labour camp to the construction site in which 150 labourers are being ferried to and fro amid the pandemic.Mr. Luthra continued to indicate the 19th April order of the DDMA- "Please see what the Disaster Management Authority permits. We are in a place where the health system has broken down completely! People are not getting beds. Since this morning, I have heard of five deaths, among people who are known to me..."Justice Saran: "We are very conscious of this. The different benches of this court are already seized of these issues. So anything that we say about it may be misinterpreted""Mr Luthra can observe anything about the deaths. The other counsel can observe. But we can't make any observations because it will be taken otherwise", said the bench.Mr. Luthra: We are not on that. Even before the High Court, I am in a very limited issue- the 19th April order states that all offices of GNCTD, including autonomous offices, will remain closed except for "essential and emergency" services such as health, fire, home guards, police. These are essential services. Then, for the first time, an exception was made – "construction activities, except where labour are residing on site, shall remain closed in the curfew". This is the position we are concerned with.Then, Mr. Luthra indicated the letter on 'Permission to continue construction during curfew period' by CPWD in respect of the Central Vista project of April 16- "This work is of time bound nature and it is to be completed before November 30 and therefore, Mr Shapoorji Pallonji (whose company has been granted the tender for the construction of the project) has been directed to carry out construction activities in three shifts. Since there are stringent timelines for the said work, Mr. Pallonji may be allowed to continue the work during the curfew.Mr. Luthra proceeded to argue: There are eight sites which are undergoing construction, we are not concerned with 6-7 of them. We are only concerned with the Rajpath stretch, the Central Vista stretch and the garden. We are not concerned with the house or other buildings which may be coming up. I can't go out in Delhi but we want the labourers to go out? Permission has been granted to ferry workers to and fro from the Sarai Kale Khan labour camp to the construction in their own buses! I have been told that these labourers are coming from Kirti Nagar, Karol Bagh etc!He pointed out that "Vehicles as per the list attached engaged in the development and redevelopment of Central Vista are hereby allowed during the curfew". "I really can't understand how construction can be an essential activity at a time when we have a health emergency! And labourers are going and coming back from the labour camps, putting at risk their own lives ...

"We Are Not Aware And We Don't Want To Be Aware (The Inside Story)": Courtroom Exchange In Central Vista Hearing

Mehal Jain

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