New Parliament building: Supreme Court gives nod to Central Vista project

New Delhi : The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed the construction of new parliament complex near Delhi's India Gate. The ruling came in response to the several petitions filed challenging the Central Vista project in terms of permissions and clearances.

"We hold that there are no infirmities in clearances given, change in land use," a three-judge bench of the court said in a majority verdict.

The new Parliament building is the project that worth a whopping sum of Rs 20,000 crores and aims to build a new Parliament complex on part of the 4-km stretch from Rashtrapati Bhavan to India Gate.

Recently, the government had organized a massive ceremony for the new parliament building, which was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. But, it was made clear that no construction work will begin until the court gives a nod to the project.

The bench of Justices AM Khanwilkar, Dinesh Maheshwari and Sanjiv Khanna were hearing petitions that raised concerns over the permissions given -- including the No-Objection Certificate given by the Central Vista Committee and the environmental clearances for the construction of a new parliament building.

"There is no intelligible disclosure of public participation and no prior approval of heritage conservation committee," the judge said.

"I have sent the issue to heritage conservation committee... we have not gone into the merits of matter," added the judge, who had agreed on the aspect of notice, award of consultancy and the order of the Urban commission.

The government had also argued that the Central Vista project is a policy decision and the court cannot strike down policy decisions unless they violate fundamental rights.

(Image)