HC halts land allotment for celebrity-founded club at Rabindra Sarobar

Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on Thursday ordered interim stay in alteration of either physical features and characteristics as well as maintaining of status quo of land allotted by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA) to an entertainment club at Rabindra Sarobar for the development of a cricket pitch and ground.

The entertainment club is founded by a celebrity and they propose to use the land to coach cricket to the underprivileged and downtrodden.

The letter of allotment was issued by KMDA by which the Club is required to pay a monthly rent of Rs 8,311 for utising 98 kathas of land. Apart from this, they have to pay an additional amount of Rs 3,000 per pitch per year if they propose to create a cricket pitch.

The case was filed by a platform of organisations and individuals concerned for the environment, namely Sabuj Mancha. They submitted that allotting public property in favour of a private entity was illegal. It was further alleged that no procedure was followed for the prayer to issuance of allotment letter.

The Division Bench of Chief Justice T S Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya observed that there was no expression of interest called for by the state government before they took the decision to allot land in favour of the Club. Further, it was observed that public areas cannot be given away in the “whims and fancies” of

the executive.

The Bench stated that there should be a wide publicity if at all the decision to give such property to a private entity is sustainable. “These issues can be considered only after an affidavit is filed by the appropriate respondents,” it was stated. The matter was listed for hearing on July 25.