A bench led by Justice T S Thakur refused to entertain the residents’ application against the elevated line on stretches of the 20-km-long Central Secretariat-Badarpur line.

“Nothing big can happen in such a small span of time. There is no urgency as the matter is already fixed for February 5,” the court observed.

The residents, including those of posh Greater Kailash colonies, had pushed for an early hearing in the matter saying that the constructions were going on at full swing and the entire proceedings would soon become infructuose.

Recently, a Group of Ministers (GoM), headed by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, had confirmed the plans for the elevated corridor in south Delhi after reviewing the issue raised by the resident welfare associations.

The GoM had given the go-ahead to the Metro’s plan to construct elevated corridor between Lajpat Nagar and Nehru Place. But the residents claimed they were only opposing a four-km elevated link passing through some residential areas in south Delhi.

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation in turn had contended that an underground stretch would escalate project costs.

Permission was taken to build East Delhi corridor: DMRC
The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) on Tuesday claimed that it received prior permission from the Yamuna Standing Committee and the National Environment Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) to construct the east Delhi corridor.

DMRC’s counsel V K Shali denied the allegation that the Metro construction was within 300 metres of the river bank. “The corporation has not violated the High Court’s previous order banning construction work within 300 metres on the river bank,” said Shalli.