The property, the former judge submitted, will pass on to private ownership once curtains are drawn on the 2010 event and public attention wanes. “A water body is to remain a water body. It is the duty of the government, which holds natural resources on public trust, to not convert it for private use or ownership after the Games are over,” he said.

Aggarwal argued that the fate of the site would be similar to that of constructions made for the 1982 Asian Games, for which the “government had encroached into 100 acres of the Yamuna bed”.

Drawing a parallel, Aggarwal told the Bench comprising Justices A K Sikri and Justice Rekha Sharma: “DDA proposes to construct 1,200 players’ flats for the Commonwealth Games. But look at the Players’ Building (now Secretariat) made for the Asian Games.”

Aggarwal also questioned how and why the DDA got permission from the Ministry of Environment in December 2006 for the constructions, when the court had as early in 2003 passed orders against encroachment on the riverbed and formed a committee.

“Why did they not come to you first?” he asked. “Unless the court considers it necessary and in public interest, how can the DDA construct on a water body? It (DDA) has to be taken to task.”

Replying to the court’s query about extent of the riverbed, Aggarwal said the entire area is about 9,700 hectares.