New Delhi, December 11
The Supreme Court today directed the Ahmedabad Development Authority (ADA) to change its plan of constructing a road through Sabarmati Ashram of Mahatma Gandhi to avoid demolition of any structures within it.

A Bench of Justices S.B. Sinha and H.S. Bedi told ADA to find some alternate route to avoid the passage of the road through the historic “Sabarmati Harijan Ashram (SHA)”.

The direction came on SHA’s appeal against the Gujarat High Court order rejecting its petition against ADA’s plan to construct a road through it that would require acquisition of its 1,000 sq meters of land.

The SHA said the Ashram, spread over 57,000 sq meters of land, was of great historic importance and its originality should not be disturbed due to the road planning.

The ADA on the other hand had stated that only a small portion of the Ashram land would be affected by the construction of the road, vital for public transport in the growing city and it did not involve any major demolition within its premises.

The High Court had accepted the plea of ADH and dismissed the petition of SHA in February 2006 and the matter was since then lying pending in the apex court, which had sought reply from the authority after issuing notice on the Ashram’s appeal.