Attorney General Tushar Mehta told a court headed by Judge AM Khanwilkar that there would only be a groundbreaking ceremony and that no construction, demolition or logging would take place for the project from now on.
“We don’t care if you do the paperwork or lay the foundation, but no construction should be done,” SC bank said.
In a keen observation, the bank added that it never thought the Center would go ahead with construction so aggressively.
The renovation, which was announced in September last year, envisages a new triangular Parliament building, with capacity for between 900 and 1,200 deputies, to be built in August 2022, when the country will celebrate its 75th Independence Day.
The common Central Secretariat is likely to be built by 2024.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the first stone on December 10 for the new parliament building and construction is expected to be completed in 2022 at an estimated cost of Rs 971 million, Lok Sabha President Om Birla had said on December 5.
The higher court knows the reasons that have raised doubts on various aspects, including the environmental authorization granted to the project.
On November 5, the high court had reserved its verdict on a series of allegations that have raised questions about the ambitious Central Vista project of the Center, which covers a three-kilometer stretch from Rashtrapati Bhavan to the India Gate in Delhi. of Lutyens.
On November 3 of last year, TOI reported for the first time the move to change the residence of the PM near Rashtrapati Bhawan.
These four buildings will be added to the 10 building blocks, which will be built to house all the ministries, central government departments and a huge conference center. Due to the addition of these four components, the total built area will be almost 18.37 lakh square meters, an increase of 83,000 square meters. The cost of the revised project has been estimated at Rs 11,794 crore, an additional expense of Rs 764 crore. Previously, it had estimated an expenditure of 11,038 million rupees for the projects of the Common Central Secretariat and the Conference Center.
Although the government has set a 2024 deadline for the Central Vista redevelopment project, CPWD, in its request, has indicated that work could continue for six years.
(With inputs from agencies)
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