The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) breathed easy when the Commonwealth Games Village project got the "all clear" signal from the Supreme Court.

The Delhi High Court, in an order last year, had said the DDA was continuing construction on the site at its own peril.

"Though the high court had not stayed the construction, but its order had put a question mark on its future. We were apprehensive," said a DDA official who did not want to be named as he is not authorised to speak to the media.

"But today, all doubts were put to rest," the official said.

The project has been mired in controversy from day one.

From the Uttar Pradesh government's reluctance in transferring 12.35 hectares of land for the project to the DDA to reservations expressed by consultants over the high noise level at the site because of rail tracks nearby, the project has tumbled from one roadblock to the other.

In 2007, the Ministry of Environment and Forests allowed the DDA to begin planning the construction.

The DDA then roped in the Pune-based Central Water and Power Research Station to study the risk of flooding in the upstream areas of the river.

The body said the existing bund on the Yamuna would not cause any danger upstream even in the event of flood.

The DDA then commissioned Dubai-based firm Emaar MGF to build the Games Village.

But the problems were far from over as last December, the DDA had to bail out the firm with Rs 700 crore.

Thursday's judgement, DDA officials believe, would put an end to all the controversies surrounding the Games Village.