On Monday, the Supreme Court emphasized the importance of protecting green spaces for kids’ leisure, emphasizing that without easily available places to “play and breathe freely”, kids would be limited to “playing only video games”.
A top court bench led by Chief Justice of India Dhananjaya Y. Chandrachud expressed grave concerns about urban planning that disregards green spaces when it denied a petition filed by the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO), the city planning agency for Maharashtra, to move a proposed sports complex from Navi Mumbai to Raigad, which is 115 kilometers away. The bench which also included, Justice JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, emphasized, “These are the last few lungs in our cities. Let us preserve these spaces. You can’t give green areas for development to builders or someone else”.
The idea called for relocating the Navi Mumbai Sports Complex, which was originally intended for Ghansoli and was based on Indira Gandhi Sports Complex in Delhi and the Balewadi Sports Complex in Pune, to Nanore village in Raigad.
A 2021 national government planned to move the complex from the heavily populated Navi Mumbai area was essentially nullified by the Court’s dismissal, which backed a Bombay high court ruling that denounced the relocation decision as “totally arbitrary and ipse dixit”.
The bench stressed that the current sports facility location serves a critical purpose for Navi Mumbai people and should not be moved when CIDCO appealed to the Supreme Court. “On the one hand, we wish for kids to have healthy lives. If they don’t, they’ll play video games. Children have else to play in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai. These areas ought to be theirs”. The move was deemed irrational by the bench. “How can you expect the kids to go 115 kilometers to use the sports complex’s amenities? Instead, if you think Raigad should have a sports facility, you should have another one”.
CIDCO’s solicitor general, Tushar Mehta, contended that the High court’s decision conflicted with state-led urban planning and that the location intended for the Navi Mumbai sports complex would be better suited for other structures and airport expansion. But the Supreme Court rejected this argument, saying, “Not at the cost of our children”.
Additionally, a private developer’s compromise proposal to utilize the open area for both residential and commercial uses was turned down by the bench. Reiterating that public spaces designated for recreation cannot be compromised, it asked, “Where will they go to play, to swim? Let them use the existing green area, at the very least”.
At the end the Bombay high court’s July ruling, which denounced the Maharashtra government’s choice as a major divergence from earlier, carefully thought-out urban development plans for Ghansoli, was upheld by the Supreme Court. The top court also criticized the government’s “nebulous” approach to civic duty and public welfare, emphasizing the detrimental effects of an urban planning paradigm that puts private interests ahead of public ones. It stated that in addition to meeting the requirements of the present population, urban authorities should also make a commitment to protecting assets and infrastructure for use by future generations.
Inspired by the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex in New Delhi and the Balewadi Sports Complex in Pune, the original plan for the Navi Mumbai sports complex was for a cutting-edge facility. The intricate design was eventually moved to Raigad, though, after problems occurred in 2016 when CIDCO gave a portion of the site to a private developer for residential and commercial projects. As a result, the Indian Institute of Architects filed a public interest litigation (PIL) in the high court. The PIL was granted by the high court, which noted that Raigad lacked proper planning, and that people of Navi Mumbai needed easy access to public leisure spaces and sports facilities to support the overall development of urban youth.
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