The Bombay High Court has stopped the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) from taking any further action to change the reservation of the Neville D’Souza football ground at Bandra Reclamation from a playground to an exhibition centre.
A division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Ravindra Ghuge and Justice Gautam Ankhad expressed strong displeasure with the civic body after being informed that the BMC had approved the proposed reservation change despite previously assuring the court that the existing status would be maintained until the petition challenging the move was heard.
“We have a bigger issue where the majesty of law is at stake. If elected authorities are going to jeer at the courts, it is very bad,” the bench observed.
The 8,450-square-metre plot, which belongs to the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA), was originally reserved for a convention and trade fair centre in 1983. Around 15 years ago, the land was temporarily leased to the Mumbai Football Association (MFA). Since a football ground had subsequently come up on the site, the BMC designated it as a recreation ground under Development Plan 2034.
During Thursday’s hearing, senior advocate Zal Andhyarujina, along with advocates Akshay Doctor, Pradeep Mane and Anoj Menon, appeared for the MFA. They informed the court that when the BMC general body sought clarification on whether any court order prevented the reservation from being changed, it was told that no stay was in force.
Senior advocate Girish Godbole, representing the BMC, said Municipal Commissioner Ashiwini Bhide had not been informed about the earlier court proceedings or the oral assurance given on August 10 to preserve the status quo.
Godbole told the bench that the civic administration could consider presenting a proposal before the general body to withdraw its August 18 resolution until the matter is heard further.
The court, however, criticised the BMC’s conduct, making it clear that the absence of the oral assurance from the formal written order did not permit the civic body to disregard its commitment before the court.
The development is significant as the Neville D’Souza ground has become the centre of a wider dispute over the protection of Mumbai’s limited public recreational spaces and proposed changes to land reservations.
Source: Hindustan Times
