SC green light to Games Village

The shadow cast on the 2010 Commonwealth Games has moved away. The Supreme Court on Friday, stayed an order of the Delhi High Court, which had virtually stalled construction of the Games Village near the Yamuna river.

In addition to this relief, a Bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justice P Sathasivam also stayed further hearing before the HC on a PIL which had challenged the Commonwealth Games Village project on env i ro n m e n t a l grounds.

The Centre had made the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) rush to the SC challenging the HC order as it was seriously concerned about the fate of its sovereign guarantee for holding the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi.

Solicitor general Goolam E Vahanvati launched a scathing attack on the HC judgment right at the beginning of the hearing. He said the judges on the division Bench held diametrically opposite views on the PIL but, as a postscript, agreed to make the village constructions subject to the outcome of the PIL.

He said the site was selected by the NDA government in 2003 adjacent to the Akshardham temple, a Rs 500-crore project which was also challenged in the Supreme Court on identical grounds. SC had dismissed the petitions against the temple project.

He said while the temple was 1.7km away from the river bed, the Games Village was 1.2km away and that the project, being constructed under public-private participation, had all environmental clearances, including that from NEERI. If the HC kept the project subject to the outcome of the PIL, then nobody would come forward to buy the flats in the Games Village making the private partner quit the project, Vahanvati said.

Appearing for the private construction company in charge of the Games Village, senior advocate Arun Jaitley said it had invested Rs 2,000 crore and would be seriously handicapped if the High Court order was not stayed.

Vahanvati said, ‘‘By delivering a judgment after almost eight months of conclusion of the hearing, the judges of the division Bench of the Delhi High Court have in effect created uncertainty and cast a shadow over the forthcoming Commonwealth Games.’’
Source:-The Times of India Delhi 6 December 2008 P.6
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