Supreme Court Okays Construction Of New Parliament Complex

Picture Credit: Outlook India

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday gave the go-ahead for the construction of the new parliament complex, which is part of the Central Vista project, at the heart of the national capital.

“We hold that there are no infirmities in clearances given and change in land use,” a three-judge bench said in a majority verdict.

A bench of Justices AM Khanwilkar, Dinesh Maheshwari and Sanjiv Khanna passed the order while hearing petitions that raised concerns over the terms of permissions and environmental clearances given to the project, NDTV reported.

While Justices Khanwilkar and Maheshwari approved the project, Justice Khanna gave an alternative view. He held that the project was “bad in law” in terms of land use for two reasons. “There is no intelligible disclosure of public participation and no prior approval of heritage conservation committee,” he said.

The new parliament building is the centerpiece of the Rs 20,000-crore Central Vista project, which aims to build and refurbish government buildings on a 4-km stretch from Rashtrapati Bhavan to India Gate in New Delhi.

The government had recently held the ground-breaking ceremony for the new parliament building, which was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. But the government had assured the court that no construction activity will be undertaken till a judgment was delivered on the matter.

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