The Khar Gymkhana on Thursday withdrew its petition in the Bombay high court challenging the suburban collector’s order directing the government to take over its land and building for flagrant breaches of lease conditions.
Senior advocate Prasad Dhakephalkar, appearing for the gymkhana, said to Justice Rekha Sondurbaldota that possession was to be taken on Thursday but the appellate authority under the Land Revenue Code directed status quo and would hear its appeal.
The gymkhana was allotted a plot in 1934 by the government. Some members complained that land given for sports was used for commercial activity. Some of the complaints were that MLA Baba Siddiqui had put up a vegetable stall, the premises were given out for meetings and events, and a pizza outlet and saloon operate there.
“The vegetable stall was for the convenience of members,” said Dhakephalkar.
An August 2006 circular permits non-sporting activities if permission is taken from the government and a fee paid. The collector’s September 28 order said no permission was taken from the government, resulting in a loss to the state exchequer. He directed that the application for renewal of lease, which expired on February 28, should not be sent to it.
“This is a hall and not an open ground. Only if it is an open ground, we are liable to pay,” said Dhakephalkar, adding that the gymkhana would move the court again if aggrieved by the appellate authority’s order.