The stay on the Delhi High Court order appointing an expert committee to assess any ecological damage caused by construction of the 2010 Commonwealth Games Village on the Yamuna riverbed is slated to continue,with Supreme Court refusing to pass an interim direction against the project on Friday. A Bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan deferred the hearing till July as the responses were not filed by parties concerned on the petition against the HC order,passed on November 3. The apex court had stayed the order on December 5 last year after the Delhi Development Authority had said it would seriously jeopardise plans for the Games on which crores of rupees had already been invested. Advocates M L Lahoty and Sanjay Parikh,appearing for those opposing the construction of 1,100 flats,said the riverbed was being exploited by a real estate company involved in the project. They submitted that if the matter was not heard on an urgent basis,it would become infructuous. Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Gopal Subramanium,appearing for the organising committee of the Commonwealth Games,however,sought adjournment on the ground that pleadings in the matter were not completed. Some NGOs have filed petitions contending that the issue was not restricted to Games-related construction activities,but other alleged illegal construction that was being permitted by the authorities on the riverbed. The Games committee had earlier argued that restriction on the construction would lead to over 71 countries claiming damages from the NCT government and the panel. The ASG had submitted that the government had already spent Rs 30,000 crore on building infrastructure for the Games. The High Court had refused to approve the construction and appointed a four member committee headed by environmental scientist R K Pachauri to assess the perceived damage.
