SC rejects Tushar Gandhi's plea against Sabarmati Ashram redevelopment

The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a plea filed by Mahatma Gandhi's great-grandson Tushar Gandhi against the Sabarmati Ashram redevelopment project.

A bench of justices M M Sundresh and Rajesh Bindal said it was not inclined to interfere in the plea, noting there was a delay of over two years in filing the petition.

Gandhi, in his plea against the Gujarat High Court, contended that the proposed project will alter the topography of the ashram.

"The project has purportedly identified over 40 congruent buildings which will be preserved while the rest of them, roughly 200, will be destroyed or rebuilt," the plea submitted.

The top court said a mere apprehension that the undertaking given by the state government that the main area of the ashram would not be affected cannot be a ground to challenge the order.

The Gujarat High Court in 2022 had disposed Gandhi's plea after the government said the main area of the ashram would not be affected.

Advocate General Kamal Trivedi, representing the Gujarat government, had told the high court that the main ashram premises, spread over five acres, will not be touched during the redevelopment.

Gandhi had filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking a direction that the redevelopment be carried out under the aegis of the 'National Gandhi Smarak Nidhi' (NGSN).

Sabarmati Ashram, also known as Gandhi Ashram, was established by Mahatma Gandhi in Ahmedabad in 1917.