After Supreme Court ordered Maharashtra government to put stay on the construction of Chhatrapati Shivaji Memorial on January 11, the state government on Tuesday directed the concerned departments to stop the construction of Shivaji Memorial in Mumbai’s Arabian sea with immediate effect.
While hearing a special leave petition (SLP), a bench consisting of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice SK Kaul issued a notice to Maharashtra government directing them to stop the construction of Fadnavis government’s most ambitious project. The petition was filed by Conservation Action Trust (CAT).
Maharashtra government was going ahead with its determined project without properly catering to the environmental concerns and the petition demanded an interim stay on the project.
Earlier, the petition was filed in Bombay High Court where the court admitted the petition but denied to pass the order in favour of CAT. Later, CAT challenged the HC order in Supreme Court.
Maharashtra government counsel, Nishant Kanteshwarkar informed that the top court had orally asked the government to stop with the construction of Shivaji Memorial while issuing a notice demanding state government’s response on the same. According to sources, the Public Works Department (PWD) officials said that this move will delay the project.
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Maharashtra government has ordered the contractor to not proceed with any further construction activity. The foundation stone of Shivaji Memorial was led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in December 2016.