The Supreme Court on Tuesday quashed a petition filed by MK Gandhi’s great-grandson, Tushar Gandhi, challenging the Gujarat government’s plans to redevelop the Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad, Live Law reported.

A bench of Justices MM Sundresh and Rajesh Bindal cited the delay of nearly 2.5 years in filing the petition against the Gujarat High Court’s 2022 decision to dismiss Tushar Gandhi’s plea in this matter.

MK Gandhi founded the Sabarmati Ashram, also referred to as the Gandhi Ashram, in Ahmedabad in 1917.

Tushar Gandhi argued in his petition that the Gujarat government’s proposed Rs 1,200 crore project to redevelop the ashram would “alter the topography of the century-old ashram” and “corrupt its ethos”.

“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 was quoted as saying by Live Law.

The Supreme Court held that simply an apprehension that the main area of the ashram might be impacted, despite the state government’s assurance, was not a valid reason to contest the order, The Hindu reported.

In 2022, the Gujarat High Court had accepted the state government’s assurance that the existing structure of the ashram will not “disturbed, altered or changed”, Live Law reported.

The High Court had held that “the proposed project would not only promote the ideas and philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi which would be for the benefit of society and mankind at large,” The Indian Express reported.

In 2021, over 130 eminent personalities including filmmaker Anand Patwardhan, historians Ramachandra Guha, Rajmohan Gandhi, retired High Court Justice AP Shah, writer Nayantara Sahgal, journalist P Sainath and carnatic singer TM Krishna had opposed the proposed redevelopment of the ashram, where Mahatma Gandhi spent 13 years of his life.

Their statement said that the most authentic monument of Mahatma Gandhi and India’s freedom struggle would be lost to “vanity and commercialisation” once the plan was implemented.

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