The court emphasized that in matters of policy and public projects, the courts should refrain from interfering with valid and considered policy decisions taken by governmental authorities, as long as they are not in conflict with the law or mala fide.

MUKTA GUPTA, J.

1. Panchshila Cooperative House Building Society and others, the Appellants herein filed a writ petition being W.P.(C) No.1921/2014 seeking declaration that the decision pertaining to the present location and placement of the Foot Over Bridge (in short ‘FOB’) which is being constructed on the Outer Ring Road, Panchshila Park on one end in front of House Nos.S-25 to S-29, Panchsheel Park and on the other end in front of House Nos.N-96 and N-98, Panchsheel Park is arbitrary, unreasonable and illegal and sought quashing of the decision of PWD regarding the choice of location and placement of the same with further directions to the Respondents not to construct the FOB at the impugned location; to restore status quo ante and relocate and construct the FOB at alternate location as suggested by the Appellants. The said writ petition was withdrawn on March 24, 2014 by the learned counsel with liberty to make a representation to the Unified Traffic and Transportation Infrastructure (Planning & Engineering) Centre (UTTIPEC) within a period of two days who was in turn directed to decide the same as expeditiously as possible preferably within a period of four weeks. Vide order dated March 24, 2014, UTTIPEC was further directed to give a hearing to a team comprising three representatives of the Appellants before deciding the matter and liberty was granted to the Appellants to file appropriate proceedings if aggrieved by the decision of the UTTIPEC, leaving the rights and contentions of all the parties open.

2. Pursuant to the withdrawal of the writ petition a representation dated March 27, 2014 was made by the Appellants to the UTTIPEC. After holding a meeting with the Appellants along with the officers concerned on April 04, 2014, the Director (Planning), UTTIPEC sent recommendations to the Secretary, PWD, Government of NCT of Delhi in the following terms on April 25, 2014:

“From the hearing of all the Petitioners following views emerged:

(i) The current proposed location in the front of house no.S-25 to S-29, Panchshila Park on the one end and house no.N-96 & N-98, Panchsila Park on the other end, adopted by the PWD is not appropriate for construction of FOB due to the following reasons:

(a) There is no footpath on both sides of the road at the current location chosen by PWD; hence it is unsafe for pedestrians attempting to cross the road at this point.

(b) The service road is too narrow on both sides, approximately 27 feet. After locating the foot print of the FOB, as per the plan, it is found that right of way for traffic movement in the left over service lane is inadequate. Thus, the construction of FOB at current location would create traffic jam.

(c) The impugned location is too close to the Fly-over and red light under with pedestrian crossing. Hence this location would not be optimally utilised.

(ii) The location in the vicinity of the MAX Hospital (on the north side) and ING Vyasya Bank (on the south side) is more appropriate and is in concordance with UTTIPEC Guidelines for the following reasons as mentioned below:

(a) Service Road is much wider at the alternate location.

(b) At the alternate location, in addition to the service road, there is also a wide footpath, which can be used for ingress and egress from FOB. Thus, the total width available at alternate location is higher, as compared to the present location.

(c) A wide footpath is available on either side of the road at the alternate location.

(d) There are bus stops on either side of the road. It is more suitable from the perspective of people accessing the community shopping area, school, park, MAX Hospital and Banks that are situated on both sides of the Ring Road in close proximity to the proposed site.

(e) The new location is beneficial to great number of the users and residents on both sides of the road namely Panchshila North and South Blocks, Sadhana Enclave and Panchshila Enclave. It also is the mid-block location for the Panchshila Colony.

(f) F