"Imposing Exorbitant Cost Will Have Chilling Effects On Citizens' Right To Question Acts Of Govt." : Appeal In SC Against HC's Refusal To Stay Construction At Central Vista

A plea has been filed before the Supreme Court challenging the Delhi High Court's recent judgement dismissing PIL seeking the temporary suspension of construction work of Central Vista Redevelopment Project in wake of Covid, while also imposing costs of 1 lakh.

The petitioners Anya Malhotra and Sohail Hashmi have also sought a stay on the impugned order dated 31st May 2021 as an interim relief.

According to the petitioners, the impugned judgement especially the imposition of exorbitant costs will have a chilling effect on public spirited citizens raising genuine issues of public health and on right of citizens to question the acts of the Government and hold it to account.

The petitioners have argued that the impugned judgement has misconstrued their bona fide intention and without cause cast them in a negative light at the cost of their right to reputation. Further, they have stated that a health and safety issue raised by them in public interest was considered by High Court as "an attack on the Central Vista Development Project".

While highlighting that they sought direction to halt or suspend the construction activity only at Central Vista Avenue Redevelopment Project and only during peak phase of the pandemic, the petitioners have stated that the High Court dealt with the matter as if the petitioners were seeking to "stop the work per se".

Calling the High Court's findings unsubstantiated and its observations adverse, the petitioners have stated that they are aggrieved by both the dismissal of their case and observation that their petition was motivated, ill intended and lacked bonafides.

Referring to the Centre's allegation that petitioners were selectively targeting just one project, the petitioners have stated that they had clarified that the same was done since there was credible material available publicly regarding work being carried out in the Central Vista project in violation of the DDMA guidelines.

The plea has contended that the judgement was passed by the Delhi High Court by solely relying on submissions of the Respondents at face value without any inquiry into their alleged compliance with DDMA orders by providing on site Accomodation to workers or following Covid protocols.

Further it has been argued that the High Court erred in putting the entire onus on the petitioners and should have conducted an inquiry for fact finding in order to address the concerns raised by the petitioners.

It may be noted that, a division bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh on May 31st, dismissed with costs of Rs.1,00,000/- a public interest litigation filed seeking the temporary suspension of construction work on Central Vista Redevelopment Project, in light of Covid

The Court had stated that the Government had already stated that the workers were "staying on site" and all arrangements had been made to ensure Covid-19 appropriate behaviour on site.

The Court had refused to stay the construction work on the project stating that, "As the workers are staying on site, no question of suspending the construction work arises in light of Covid-19." It had also termed the petition a "motivated petition" and not a "genuine public interest litigation".