No construction, razing till verdict; SC puts stay order on new Parliament building

The new Parliament building under the Modi governments' central vista project has come under severe criticism as it comes at a time when the Indian Economy is struggling.

Pulling up the central government, the Supreme Court on Monday has stayed the construction activity of the new parliament building of the country. The court has said that the Parliament House under the 'Central Vista Project' will not be built until a decision is pronounced. The court said that no construction, sabotage, or tree cutting should be done under the project until the final verdict on the pending applications is heard.

The court expressed displeasure with the government that the construction work of the Central Vista project was "aggressively" moving forward. "We thought we are dealing with a prudent litigation and deference will be shown," the bench said, further adding that it never, "thought the government will go ahead aggressively with the construction".

The SC said, "We have shown deference to you and expected that you will act in a prudent manner. The same deference should be shown to the court and there should be no demolition or construction."

No objection to the groundbreaking ceremony: SC

However, the Supreme Court has not prohibited the groundbreaking ceremony of the new parliament building project which is scheduled on the 10^th of December by PM Modi. The apex court has said that there is no objection to its foundation, but there will be no construction work.

New Parliament building

The Center has prepared a master plan of Central Vista to construct new buildings between Rashtrapati Bhavan to India Gate. According to the project, the new Tikona Parliament House will be constructed behind the statue of Gandhiji in front of the old Parliament House.

It will have one building each for the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, but the Central Hall will not be built. The building will be built on 13 acres of land. 10 buildings will be built for the Central Secretariat. The Rashtrapati Bhavan, the existing Parliament House, India Gate, and the National Archives building will be kept in the existing form.

The project was announced in September last year, with a seating capacity of 900 to 1200 MPs. Its construction is aimed at August 2022, when the country will celebrate the 75th anniversary of independence. Petitions have been filed against various other clearances granted, including land-use change approval. All these cases are still pending in the apex court.